Spammer, moi?

[j_c_hallgren]

I'm really hesitant to reply to this but feel need to comment on what I believe are some possible inaccuracies or misimpressions about me and my actions here..

Originally Posted by Anupam

Such desperateness to reply to one "negative" comment? That sounds odd to me.

I was attempting to address that only as a portion of my comment and the only odd part is that I not only said it was true in past, but IS still true now...think about it...would a 'fanboy' try that hard to post a negative fact about the product? Only if they were trying to be as neutral or honest as possible.

You guys have been hijacking different threads to post about your issues.

I have only posted in this thread and I did so originally because i was told to post in this forum via a private msg and given this thread matched closely the original problem I had, felt it was correct to use it as well...I have attempted to keep my actual references to the software product to a minimum in this thread to avoid any hijacking.

MC says that many people registered just to post about the product, and he was getting barrage of complaints then, about not being able to post, just about XYplorerFree. In other words, you guys really made a mess.

I'm only aware of one other person (there may well be others but I'm unaware of who) and when he ran into problems that seemed to be due strictly to his chosen userid here, I then tried once to post a comment and since then, refrained from starting or posting to a forum thread about the product as I didn't want to offend anyone...I can only apologize for any actions that I've done here if they were felt to be improper, ok?

Also, you say that XY fans are trying to post independently. Independently yes, but I don't think the efforts are not un-coordinated. I think all this was coordinated, just to promote and publicize about the product. This is just typical fanboy attitude, and this does not work on our site and forum.

The only coordination was that I was made aware of another user who had issues with his chosen userid name so I attempted then as a fellow long time consumer of your site to make one comment.

We are here to provide a service to the people, yes, but we are not here to provide a platform to fanboys and people who try to make a mess just to promote a product.

And as a multi-year consumer of your site, I much appreciate the work you and others do here and have shared this site with many others over the years which makes me a fanboy of your site...however, I personally see it users of software/hardware as falling into only three groups: fanboys, "independent reviewers" and haters...thus the only possible group that I, as a satified user of ANY product who wants to share his satisfaction of it with others, could be in is fanboy because I'm not in the business of doing reviews...thus, if you wish to limit product input from what you see as fanboys, the only alternative I see is from the haters and that's certainly not desireable either...

If this is continued, we will even decide not to feature the product in the review at all. We have done this in the past with several products whose fanboys tried to achieve a similar thing, and we will do this again, if needed.

I would hope that you would evaluate this product strictly on its merits and not be based on the actions of a few very satisfied users...I have tried my best to be cordial and professional here based on how I'd want to be treated if it were my site and you were the user, ok? And I hope this reply doesn't cause you to take the action you stated but I've made multiple attempts at apologizing for the actions of myself and other XY users (whom I have no control over but felt it was appropriate to do so).

[Anupam]

j_c_hallgren, thanks for your post, and for trying to clear up things... much appreciated.

I agree your postings have been cordial in general, and yes, I agree that you agreed that the new version still does have some limitations. That's quite appreciated.

Still, you will agree that a bit of mess was indeed created by it all.

Yes, this thread is related to spam filter blocking, and your posting here is kinda fine, but it would have been better as a separate thread, since now most of the post on this thread are for XYplorer related issue. Before this, Enternal9 had posted in another thread here, which should really have been posted as a new thread. Anyways, moving on. Enternal9 said in his post that he, you and a few others tried to post about XY on the site. Therefore, it's possible that there may have been more registrations. I don't know the details, MC does, as he has been dealing with them, and he said that multiple registrations were taking place to "test" our spam filter.

When Enternal9 was in discussion with MC over the spam filter issue, he shouldn't have made another ID. Also, if he was going to make another ID, he should have told MC about it. Put yourself in our position, and see how it all seems to us. First, handling various complaints, and then we will naturally feel that an attempt to spam was going on with multiple registrations.

I don't agree with your three groups of users. There is difference between fans and fanboys. We definitely will like people to be fans of this site, but we wouldn't encourage anyone to be fanboys, who single mindedly believe that whatever thing or product they are using is the best, and the rest are worthless, or no good than it. And then they will do anything for that product. There can be fans of a product, without being fanboys. OK, we won't call you as fanboys now, but at that time, it felt like that.

No, we won't take the action for XYplorerFree, and George.J will evaluate and include it in the review, as he seems fit. However, my posting was just a fair warning of what action we might take if we got repeated promotional posts/comments. However, I feel that wouldn't be the case here, and we only do that when the problem gets severe. So, hopefully it won't get to that.

Thanks for your post again.

You may please try posting comment about XYplorerFree on the review again. Should go through now hopefully. If you have problems again, please do report back.

[j_c_hallgren]

Originally Posted by Anupam

j_c_hallgren, thanks for your post, and for trying to clear up things... much appreciated.

You're very welcome and I appreciated the chance (as a 7+ year user of XY & a moderator on that forum) to try and resolve any problems that I and another (over enthusiastic?) user caused here for the benefit of all your and our users.

I don't agree with your three groups of users. There is difference between fans and fanboys.

Ok...I was being a bit too simplistic, I guess, because I have found it quite hard sometimes to distinguish fans from fanboys so I've just lumped them together but with varying levels of intensity. I can't readily think of any product I have where I feel the competing ones are worthless (except maybe for some cheap "Made in China" dollar store tools!) and I've even recommended on the XY forum that in some rare cases, they should try xplorer2 lite as solution because XY didn't do that function or as well.

You may please try posting comment about XYplorerFree on the review again.

I've looked back at what I had attempted to post originally and in hindsight, am actually pleased that it DIDN'T make it so will maybe just try to post just a followup sentence or two, esp since another well known site had a nice blog post about it in meantime.

[johnvk]

[Is it ok if we get back to mollom spam blocking?]

I was blocked. sigh.

Here's what i found out:

I was posting to http://www.techsupportalert.com/cont...out-itunes.htm. I first tried:

DigiDNA, the makers of DiskAid, have changed their URL to https://imazing.com/diskaid to hawk their new commercial product.

That worked fine. When i looked at the preview, i noticed it did not have the URL linkable (UNLIKE in this form which added the [url] itself automatically)

So tried the following, in order (i had to use the [HTML] tag to escape the [URL] tag:

DigiDNA, the makers of DiskAid, have changed their URL to [url=https://imazing.com/diskaid to hawk their new commercial product.]

DigiDNA, the makers of DiskAid, have changed their URL to [url=https://imazing.com/diskaid to hawk their new commercial product.][/url]

DigiDNA, the makers of DiskAid, have changed their URL to [url=https://imazing.com/diskaid to hawk their new commercial product.]disk[/url]

Trying to see if i could guess the syntax for making a link active. Apparently comments do not have this syntax :P The THIRD one triggered the warning. Not sure if it was my multiple tries, or the exact content of that third one.

But, wait, there's more...

I edited back to my first one, with no trace of [url] and i was STILL blocked.

I then clicked the title of the article on the edit page to go back to the article and tried to add a new comment again. Still blocked.

So i logged out and back in. And then i was not blocked and could add a comment with my first text above with no [url].

then...

I did some more exploring and found some URLs about DiskAid that some might find interesting.

I tried to EDIT my comment and tried this:

DigiDNA, the makers of DiskAid, have changed their URL to https://imazing.com/diskaid to hawk their new commercial product. And i can't find any other URL for the free DiskAid itself except an entry on their download page: https://imazing.com/download;

They do have a support/FAQ for the free DiskAid here: http://support.digidna.net/hc/en-us/categories/200191703-DiskAid

Now it asked me for a captcha, which i entered. But next screen said i was blocked. Maybe i didnt type it correctly. dunno.

Maybe it's cuz i have 3 URLs in my post, dunno.

BTW: both time i did do the mollom report. Does this help?

EDIT: i tried logging out and back in again, and editing my comment to the EXACT SAME STRING above, an it DID ask me for "word verification" which i provided and it ACCEPTED it.

So there's some "state" here, where if you're "flagged" as a spammer, it doesnt let text in, but if you're not, it does let the exact same text in.

This is a pain, but i know it's necessary. I dont mind having to jump thru these hoops, and i'm especially glad there existed hoops (logout/in) i could jump thru today. And i hope this report helps make the process smoother for all of us non-spammers.

[johnvk]

I tried to post this as reply to Security Attack Called Logjam makes Browsers Vulnerable

Well
1. first i tried with actual < > angle bracket chars in the post.
Hit preview.
It treated the URLs inside as (unrecognized) tags and didnt print them.
2. Then i tried with html character codes < >.
Hit preview.
It saw the URLs but said i was blocked.
I reported to mollum (does that help?)
3. i changed all my http to hxxp
Hit preview.
Was NOT blocked--yea!
But not for long.
Couple more edits,
Hit 'Save'.
Blocked. :'(

Then, when i was posting here, i noticed that the error message i was quoting had a www.ssllabs.com:10445 in it so i changed that to "www dot ssllabs dot com:10445" and then i WAS able to 'Save' NOT blocked. yea!

I did not have to log out and back in.

well, my 40some windows and 300some tabs (excessive. i know.) prompted me to install the beta 64bit windows firefox, which is v40.0.
In this version of firefox:

Qualys SSL Client Test <hxxps://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/viewMyClient.html>
reports :
"Logjam Vulnerability (Experimental)
Your user agent is not vulnerable."
good

however when i click on their "test manualy" (for logjam) <hxxps://www.ssllabs.com:10445/>
i get :
Secure Connection Failed

An error occurred during a connection to www.ssllabs.com:10445. SSL received a weak ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key in Server Key Exchange handshake message. (Error code: ssl_error_weak_server_ephemeral_dh_key)

This report is from FIREFOX Not ssllabs.com !

This is with
security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_128_sha TRUE
and
security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_256_sha TRUE

When i switch both to false
1. i can get into the other website that also gave me the ssl_error_weak
2. however ssllabs test manually <hxxps://www.ssllabs.com:10445/>
gives another error:

Secure Connection Failed

An error occurred during a connection to www.ssllabs.com:10445. Cannot communicate securely with peer: no common encryption algorithm(s). (Error code: ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap)

I think that error might mean success? meaning, safe. perhaps?

(BTW These are all the same ssllabs links that they were in May)

[johnvk]

blocked again, sigh. It said i entered the captcha wrong, but i'm almost positive i did not. Second one gave me the blocked warning. I was trying to preview, not save.

Why? Because it contains 1 URL? Is there some magic keywords in there? Id I miss some capitals or use some shorthand?

I did the mollum report (does anything come of that?).

Here's my text i tried to post to Newly Upgraded to Windows 10? Three Things to look out for

Awesome Vic!

"Otherwise, she will start collecting all sorts of information about you."

Yeah, for example:

"Data syncing is on by default: Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes
- your browser history,
- favorites and
- the websites you currently have open as well as
- saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and
- Wi-Fi network names and passwords.
...
To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as
- your device location,
- data from your calendar,
- the apps you use,
- data from your emails and
- text messages,
- who you call,
- your contacts and
- how often you interact with them on your device.

Cortana also learns about you by collecting
- data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as
- - your music,
- - alarm settings,
- - whether the lock screen is on,
- - what you view and purchase,
- - your browse and Bing search history,
- - and more.”
[from: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/]

And more?! that wasn't enuf? Basically they upload your entire PC and all your activity to their server.

And "because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects 'your voice input'"

Simply consider what Cortana (and Siri and OK Google) must do to be able to respond to your request. They have to be listening to your speech ALL THE TIME. More than that, they have to be listening to the *microphone* all the time, meaning they hear everything in the room.

Also "Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you."

I'm privacy conscious. Windows 10 is not for me.

EDIT: I logged out and back in--still blocked with the above text. After doing some cleaning up, the text below worked. It's hard to tell what is important.

I changed "enuf" to "enough" spelled correctly (not enough on its own)(no pun intended lol).
I changed http to hxxp (not enough on its own).
I moved the link to the very bottom, and instead of just "from: " i change it to "All qutoes are from: " note "qutoes" is misspelled.

Maybe it had nothing to do with my edits. Maybe mollum changed its mind and decided to be nice to me. It's so hard to tell why, and that means i'm gonna keep bumping into this.

After my first preview was accepted, i kept making minor edits. But this is the first text that was not blocked:

Awesome Vic!

"Otherwise, she will start collecting all sorts of information about you."

Yeah, for example:

"Data syncing is on by default: Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes
- your browser history,
- favorites and
- the websites you currently have open as well as
- saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and
- Wi-Fi network names and passwords.
...
To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as
- your device location,
- data from your calendar,
- the apps you use,
- data from your emails and
- text messages,
- who you call,
- your contacts and
- how often you interact with them on your device.

Cortana also learns about you by collecting
- data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as
- - your music,
- - alarm settings,
- - whether the lock screen is on,
- - what you view and purchase,
- - your browse and Bing search history,
- - and more.”

And more?! That wasn't enough? Basically they upload your entire PC and all your activity to their server.

And "because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects 'your voice input'"

Simply consider what Cortana (and Siri and OK Google) must do to be able to respond to your request. They have to be listening to your speech ALL THE TIME. More than that, they have to be listening to the *microphone* all the time, meaning they hear everything in the room.

Also "Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you."

I'm privacy conscious. Windows 10 is not for me.

[All qutoes are from: hxxp://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/]