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(@Anonymous)
New Member

I receive a lot of spammy requests like the ones at the bottom of my article.

What are they? Iunderstand that they are trying to referer spam me, but how? Is that some malware running on users' browsers?

Should I block these requests? If so, how? I am running apache2. There are very many IP
addresses involved.

i

61.11.26.142 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:31:21 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/votes_for_deletion/log/2005_february_19.wikipedia HTTP/1.0" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/texas-hold-em.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; Maxthon)"
200.77.229.133 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:31:22 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/votes_for_deletion/log/2005_february_19.wikipedia HTTP/1.1" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/texas-hold-em.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; Maxthon)"
202.47.247.130 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:33:48 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/votes_for_deletion/log/2005_january_21.wikipedia HTTP/1.0" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/pacific-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; YANDEX)"
200.77.229.133 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:33:57 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/votes_for_deletion/log/2005_january_21.wikipedia HTTP/1.1" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/pacific-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; YANDEX)"
148.244.150.58 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:34:35 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/blair_p._houghton/archive/20050131.wikipedia HTTP/1.1" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/pacific-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; AIRF)"
200.77.229.133 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:34:43 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/verses_criticising_jews_in_the_new_testament_(archive).wikipedia HTTP/1.1" 200 8098 "http://www.poker-7.com/online-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; YANDEX)"
202.29.136.140 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:35:16 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/blair_p._houghton/archive/20050131.wikipedia HTTP/1.0" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/pacific-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; AIRF)"
200.77.229.133 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:35:17 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/blair_p._houghton/archive/20050131.wikipedia HTTP/1.1" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/pacific-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; AIRF)"
211.114.68.60 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:42:12 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/postcomment.wikipedia HTTP/1.0" 200 7151 "http://www.poker-7.com/party-poker.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)"
24.123.82.134 - - [07/Jun/2005:08:42:20 -0500] "GET /algebra/about/history/featured_article_removal_candidates/archive.wikipedia HTTP/1.0" 404 561 "http://www.poker-7.com/texas-holdem.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows NT 5.0; AIRF)"

Quote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Els wrote:

> Ignoramus6010 wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I receive a lot of spammy requests like the ones at the bottom of my
>> article.
>>
>> What are they? Iunderstand that they are trying to referer spam me,
>> but how? Is that some malware running on users' browsers?

>
> Well, they at least now got their URL across the internet by you
> posting it 10 times in your message, which happens to be taken over by
> several well spidered so called forums, like forum4designers and such
> [/color]

Don't spend your time keeping track of referrer spam. I used to block them,
then I lost hope of identifying real and fake referrers (about 100 of them
every month) and finally I learned to ignore and made sure that my stats
could never be viewed publicly. By quoting the logs, you have just
encouraged the spammers to do more of the same.

Roy

--
Roy S. Schestowitz
http://Schestowitz.com

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Ignoramus6010 wrote:

> I receive a lot of spammy requests like the ones at the bottom of my
> article.
>
> What are they? Iunderstand that they are trying to referer spam me,
> but how? Is that some malware running on users' browsers?

Well, they at least now got their URL across the internet by you
posting it 10 times in your message, which happens to be taken over by
several well spidered so called forums, like forum4designers and such

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/
Sonhos vem. Sonhos v?o. O resto ? imperfeito.
- Renato Russo -
Now playing: Dave Edmunds - I Knew The Bride (When She Use

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

From the relative comfort of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation boardroom,
patched in a new connection to
news:alt.internet.search-engines,alt.www.webmaster,alt.apache.configuration
and said:


> ...
> and finally I learned to ignore and made sure that my stats
> could never be viewed publicly.

exactly so - can I have a penny for every available online stats report
please?

--
Whatever you do - do something.

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

William Tasso wrote:

> From the relative comfort of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation boardroom,
> patched in a new connection to
> news:alt.internet.search-engines,alt.www.webmaster,alt.apache.configuration
> and said:
>
>[color=green]
>> ...
>> and finally I learned to ignore and made sure that my stats
>> could never be viewed publicly.

>
> exactly so - can I have a penny for every available online stats report
> please?[/color]

Wanna share those pennies?

--
Els http://locusmeus.com/
Sonhos vem. Sonhos v?o. O resto ? imperfeito.
- Renato Russo -
Now playing: Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Ignoramus6010 wrote:

> What are they? Iunderstand that they are trying to referer spam me, but how?


> Should I block these requests? If so, how? I am running apache2.
> There are very many IP addresses involved.

"referer[sic] spam" occurs when spiders crawl your site with fake
referrer entries in the HTTP request headers. Often, websites have a
publically viewable (and crawlable) statistics web page that list top
referrers. Search engines crawl your stats page and record the inbound
links from your website to the spam site.

For Apache, banning the sites involves editing .htaccess. I do a
Rewrite on any referer match with "adult" themes or gambling related
words (e.g. casino, poker). If your site is adult or gambling themed,
these broad matches are undesirable, but for many webmasters they work
just fine. Part of my .htaccess is below. I started with a template I
found somewhere and I've added to it. The rewrite rule creates a 301
redirect back to the spammer in the (probably vain) hope of crashing
the spidering software. I suspect the spider doesn't even see the
redirect.

Regarding the many IP addresses you are seeing, one of the tactics of
these guys is indeed to install malware so they have distributed
referer spam spidering.

To help fight referer spam, be sure to Disallow your stats page in
robots.txt.

RFM

-- part of my .htaccess file --

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)adult(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)a**l(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)gay(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)mature(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)nude(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)porn(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)s*x(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?.*(-|.)teen(-|.).*$ [OR]
--snip--
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?yahh+oo.*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?andrewsaluk.*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?genaholincorporated.*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?findmore.org$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?izhuqiu.*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?sina.com.cn$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^ http://(www.)?firsthorizonmtg.*$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %1 [R=301,L]

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

"Fritz M" wrote in news:1118160383.736538.210680
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> To help fight referer spam, be sure to Disallow your stats page in
> robots.txt.

Or even better, put your stats page behind a password. It's not unknown
for even well-behaved spiders to hiccup on robots.txt and index something
they shouldn't, and that data is also commercially valuable.

On the whole, the only people other than you who are interested in that
data are your direct competitors and their SEOs - so why help them out?

Victoria
--
Clare Associates Ltd
http://www.clareassoc.co.uk/
--

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 17:27:18 +0100, Victoria Clare wrote:
> "Fritz M" wrote in news:1118160383.736538.210680
> @g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>[color=green]
>> To help fight referer spam, be sure to Disallow your stats page in
>> robots.txt.

>
> Or even better, put your stats page behind a password. It's not unknown
> for even well-behaved spiders to hiccup on robots.txt and index something
> they shouldn't, and that data is also commercially valuable.
>
> On the whole, the only people other than you who are interested in that
> data are your direct competitors and their SEOs - so why help them out?[/color]

Some clarifications. My stats pages are public for a good reason. They
are public so it is easier for me to sell direct ads and links from my
sites. I cannot make them private because of some spamming lowlifes.

My stats are produced with analog, and the list of top referrers lists
them (and would list spammers), but the list has no clickable items,
only website names. No there. I doubt that major search
engines would pick up those addresses, but I am not certain.

i

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Roy Schestowitz wrote

> Don't spend your time keeping track of referrer spam. I used to block
> them, then I lost hope of identifying real and fake referrers (about
> 100 of them every month) and finally I learned to ignore

Good advice.

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Els wrote

> Ignoramus6010 wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I receive a lot of spammy requests like the ones at the bottom of my
>> article.
>>
>> What are they? Iunderstand that they are trying to referer spam me,
>> but how? Is that some malware running on users' browsers?

>
> Well, they at least now got their URL across the internet by you
> posting it 10 times in your message, which happens to be taken over by
> several well spidered so called forums, like forum4designers and such
> [/color]

Yep. I came across a couple of those "forums" just recently, new ones I
hadn't seen before.

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Ignoramus6010 wrote

> them (and would list spammers), but the list has no clickable items,
> only website names. No there.

They're clickable in my Xnews!

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

On 7 Jun 2005 16:51:44 GMT, Ignoramus6010
wrote:

>Some clarifications. My stats pages are public for a good reason. They
>are public so it is easier for me to sell direct ads and links from my
>sites. I cannot make them private because of some spamming lowlifes.

If you don't mind me asking how does that work for you (selling ads
that is)?

I've been considering selling ads from some of my sites and would be
interested to know if it's going well or not.

>My stats are produced with analog, and the list of top referrers lists
>them (and would list spammers), but the list has no clickable items,
>only website names. No there. I doubt that major search
>engines would pick up those addresses, but I am not certain.

These pages right-
http://www.algebra.com/misc/analog/analog.html

You are right about the search engines not considering the URLs
without as links.

The reason they are referrer spamming your site is in the hope of
gaining text links (for the PR/link benefit). I guess they choose high
PR sites and hope they have stats pages that are indexed with referrer
links (most sites won't). Since you have no links to referrer sites
they won't gain anything from you (other than wasting your bandwidth).

Referrer spammers are looking for sites using Webalizer type stats
that do list the URLs of referring sites. If you use this stats
package and want to prevent PR leakage disallow your stats directory
via the robots.txt file.

The main search engines won't spider the page any longer.

If you don't have a robots.txt file create one with this as the
contents and upload to root-

User-agent: *
Disallow: /statistics/

Where statistics in the directory your stats are located.

It won't prevent links showing on stats pages, but will stop them
benefiting in PR terms from the links.

David
--
Free Search Engine Optimization Tutorial
http://www.seo-gold.com/tutorial/

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 17:34:52 GMT, SEO Dave wrote:
> On 7 Jun 2005 16:51:44 GMT, Ignoramus6010
> wrote:
>[color=green]
>>Some clarifications. My stats pages are public for a good reason. They
>>are public so it is easier for me to sell direct ads and links from my
>>sites. I cannot make them private because of some spamming lowlifes.

>
> If you don't mind me asking how does that work for you (selling ads
> that is)?[/color]

Pretty well, on both sites. I will not get into specifics, but let me
just say it pays for my lunches, as well as breakfasts and lunches and
dinners and snacks for my family. That's direct ads sold by me only,
adsense etc is not included in the above statement.

> I've been considering selling ads from some of my sites and would be
> interested to know if it's going well or not.

Never hurts to give it a try.
[color=green]
>>My stats are produced with analog, and the list of top referrers lists
>>them (and would list spammers), but the list has no clickable items,
>>only website names. No there. I doubt that major search
>>engines would pick up those addresses, but I am not certain.

>
> These pages right-
>
http://www.algebra.com/misc/analog/analog.html [/color]

Yep.

> You are right about the search engines not considering the URLs
> without as links.

That's nice. Then, why do these assholes spam me, I wonder.

> The reason they are referrer spamming your site is in the hope of
> gaining text links (for the PR/link benefit). I guess they choose high
> PR sites and hope they have stats pages that are indexed with referrer
> links (most sites won't). Since you have no links to referrer sites
> they won't gain anything from you (other than wasting your bandwidth).

I am relieved. I do pay for bandwidth, though, so their abuse of it is
regrettable.

> Referrer spammers are looking for sites using Webalizer type stats
> that do list the URLs of referring sites. If you use this stats
> package and want to prevent PR leakage disallow your stats directory
> via the robots.txt file.

I see. Well, I am using analog and so this is not an issue. By the
way, I post a list of keywords and get quite a few hits on that.

> The main search engines won't spider the page any longer.
>
> If you don't have a robots.txt file create one with this as the
> contents and upload to root-
>
>
> User-agent: *
> Disallow: /statistics/
>
>
> Where statistics in the directory your stats are located.
>
> It won't prevent links showing on stats pages, but will stop them
> benefiting in PR terms from the links.

Thanks. I think that since I do not display links, there is not much
more to be done. I appreciate your knowledgeable advice.

i

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

On 7 Jun 2005 19:20:37 GMT, John Bokma wrote:
> Ignoramus6010 wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Pretty well, on both sites. I will not get into specifics, but let me
>> just say it pays for my lunches, as well as breakfasts and lunches and
>> dinners and snacks for my family.

>
> I always say it pays the rent ๐Ÿ™‚ But I could say that instead.[/color]

Well, strictly speaking, the ads that I sell directly are not enough
to pay my mortgage.
[color=green]
>> That's direct ads sold by me only,
>> adsense etc is not included in the above statement.

>
> I always have the feeling that it's better do have direct advertizers. More
> work, but higher pay out.[/color]

I think that there is no reason not to have both kinds of advertisers.

I only sell text links.
[color=green]
>> That's nice. Then, why do these assholes spam me, I wonder.

>
> Did you check out their site?
>[/color]

It is some trash honeypot for google. domains like
make-money-in-poker.com linking to domains like
winning-poker-strategies.com or whatever. I spent about 5 seconds
there, so my summary may be incorrect.

i

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
(@Anonymous)
New Member

Re: poker-7 referer spam?

Ignoramus6010 wrote:

> Pretty well, on both sites. I will not get into specifics, but let me
> just say it pays for my lunches, as well as breakfasts and lunches and
> dinners and snacks for my family.

I always say it pays the rent ๐Ÿ™‚ But I could say that instead.

> That's direct ads sold by me only,
> adsense etc is not included in the above statement.

I always have the feeling that it's better do have direct advertizers. More
work, but higher pay out.

> That's nice. Then, why do these assholes spam me, I wonder.

Did you check out their site?

--
John Perl SEO tools: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
Experienced (web) developer: http://castleamber.com/
Get a SEO report of your site for just 100 USD:
http://johnbokma.com/websitedesign/seo-expert-help.html

ReplyQuote
Posted : 08/06/2005 5:33 am
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