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New Digg Spamming Technique: Shout = Spam

blackhatseodiary.org — With the new Digg Interface they obviously tried to make it easier to interact with friends and to send messages, ahem, shouts, I mean SPAM messages to other users.Or is it just me that has been receiving tons of Shouts like the following: Hi, what do you think of think? http://digg.com/story_some_spammer_wants_me_to_digg

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  • canewediggit, on 10/22/2007, -4/+68"and I have not seen so far the bury brigade taking care of this." - we're not on call to serve at your pleasure :-P

    i've been trying not to be a total ass when people shoutspam me, but it's already gotten annoying. if people can't learn some nettiquette, maybe we'll counter with shoutburies.
    • Herkimer56, on 11/01/2007, -7/+59Shoutburies? Are those any relation to CrunchBerries?
      • mydigga, on 10/22/2007, -2/+252nd cousin twice removed. You know, one of Dingleberries kids.
      • mrASSMAN, on 10/21/2007, -1/+10Maybe similar to snozzberries? they taste like snozzberries.
      • cawpin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I just wish they would put the bury option back in the "Submitted" list in people's profiles. I used that to bury the spammers.
      • 2oonhed, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1will they stay crunchy?.....even in milk?
    • FyreGoddess, on 10/22/2007, -1/+44I'm not entirely sure what any bury brigade could effectively do to counter the shout issue.

      Frankly, I think it's something that each individual needs to combat on their own, either by burying shouted promotions (and letting the person know that's what they're doing) or by choosing their "friends" wisely enough to not have a list full of spammers.

      Either that or turn off the shouts. Sorry, no sympathy.
    • cloudyprison, on 10/21/2007, -4/+4This echoes alot like /b/ is not your personal army.
    • WiseWeasel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15I've personally been doing just that. I stopped trying to delete them all, and now reply to each one that their story is now buried (and I bury it). Since I've started doing that, the volume of shout spams has dried to a trickle, and I no longer have to delete them. Punitive spam blocking FTW!

      This is really a lousy long-term solution though. I've already sent feedback to Digg to add an option in the user settings for "Allow Digg story and web links in shouts from..." [Anyone, Friends, Nobody]. Maybe if more people request that feature, we could have a more practical solution to this problem. It would also be nice if we could blacklist certain users from sending us shouts.
  • RTCA, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13The shouts don't bother me yet because I haven't received that many. I won't mind shouts for articles are really digg-worthy, but I'm sure I'll be irritated by those that aren't.
    • geminitojanus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21They don't bother me at all, because the instant they enabled the feature, I went into my profile and turned it off.
  • DigitalBuilder, on 10/21/2007, -0/+24Im receiving a lot of spam shouts... It's getting annoying. I am thinking about including something in my profile such as "If you feel like shouting to me please don't post a Digg URL"
  • anchorman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+38Change your picture to a real ugly fat guy... the spam will cease.
  • euphemizeme, on 10/10/2007, -4/+36NOBODY EVER SHOUTED AT ME :( I wants a shout
    • coit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Try turning the feature on... You are blocking all but your friends.
      • euphemizeme, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14Okay I fixed it. Please shout at me now, I've been a bad boy.
      • euphemizeme, on 10/21/2007, -13/+2How come people keep digging these comments but nobody has ***** shouted at me yet? SHOUT AT ME YOU WAIFISH ***** COCKMUFFIN DOUCHE BAG *****. Thanks in advance.
    • MasteRR, on 10/19/2007, -0/+31NONSENSICAL STATEMENT INVOLVING PLANKTON!

      There, you have been shouted at. Happy?
  • ChillEnt, on 10/21/2007, -0/+3not to mention the "shout to all" link....
    • NikoKun, on 10/21/2007, -0/+4Personally, I think in our profile options, we should be able to disable shouts, that were made to us, via the "shout to all" method, but still leave normal shouts on. That way, only people who individually shout would be able to send shouts to us... if that was what we wanted.
      Although probably leave it enabled by default. lol cause not everyone has enough friends to worry about that much spam. Honestly, if you're not a constant spammer, it doesn't bother me... I think shout to all is a great way to share stories and get things dugg up! lol
  • bouche, on 10/21/2007, -0/+16can't you just remove the shouter from your friends list?
    • ChillEnt, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1This is true, but they can still have you as a friend even if you don't have them listed as a friend.
      • bouche, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7settings --- Allow shouts from friends
      • sfrench, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Friend = somebody YOU clicked "Add Friend For"
        Fan = somebody that tried to friend you, and you have not reciprocated by adding them. (these people cannot shout at you with the default setting)
        Mutual Friend = you and the other person are both friends of each other.
    • WiseWeasel, on 10/21/2007, -0/+2Personally, I want to allow regular text messages from anyone, but not allow story or offsite links from anyone (maybe at some point, I might allow that for friends only). Your solution doesn't help me...
  • coheedcollapse, on 10/21/2007, -2/+32If you are getting spam shouts, maybe you should set it so only friends can shout at you and delete the spammers.
    • jknight, on 10/18/2007, -1/+4I think another way of putting this is RTFM.
      Good call btw. That is the first thing I did when I saw this come online. I disabled all shouts but friends.
    • 4degrees, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1yes, very good call. I left my setting on "friends only"
  • MasteRR, on 10/21/2007, -0/+9I haven't seen any shouts, but I god a hell of a lot of "new fans". At least 3 a day for about 3 days at which point I disabled the email notifications. Looks like the new system is pretty useless due to spam.
    • EntropyMan, on 10/21/2007, -0/+5Yeah, me too. I've only accepted from people who are on the site for > 6 months, because most of the new people started not with a "thanks!" or a "Hi" but with a shout to digg their submission. Dropped.
    • WiseWeasel, on 10/21/2007, -0/+2Seems like submitters from stories I've dugg like to add me (and I assume all others who dugg their story) as a friend. The only time I accept is after reading their commenting history, and checking that they have something worthwhile to say. Likewise, I had to turn off email notifications.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/21/2007, -2/+3"Looks like the new system is pretty useless due to spam."

      Much like Digg itself has become. TOO MANY articles submitted, constantly, with too little quality.
      What a waste!
      Most of the few really excellent articles go unnoticed, buried under the deluge of crap that is submitted. Digg is nearly DEAD!

      Now, 'the founders' can simply 'take the money and run.'

      (and by 'Founders', I don't mean to imply that they are shape-shifters...or...well, never mind. )
      • mlostracco, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Not to mention all the people now spamming mirrors in the comment section in order to reap ad hits revenue...which wouldn't be as much of an issue if every second frontpage post wasn't now a stupid inbox FW: FW: FW: fw: FW: FW: fw:
    • IEatHamburgers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Better not make any more comments so spammers won't find me and flood my inbox with added as friend emails.
      Wait...
  • dfltr, on 10/22/2007, -1/+50My Profile -> Settings -> Allow shouts to me from... -> My Friends

    problem solved! ;)
  • ers35, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20hey guys cool story you mighht like:
    http://digg.com/tech_news/New_Digg_Spamming_Techni ...
    • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Unbridled overpopulation will kill Digg, in exactly the same way that cancer kills a host body.
      Keep making more and more 'cells', in one place, with no 'quality check' = TUMOR
  • Aetrius, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Not trying to be captain obvious, just some people need more direction than others:

    1) Navigate to http://www.digg.com/settings
    2) Under "Privacy: Shouts and Photos", look for the "Allow shouts to me from..."
    3) Select the "My Friends" for less spam, select "Nobody" for no spam.
    • bouche, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7"My Friends" is set as a default. ONly a dumbass would switch it to ANYONE and then complain about it. This must be a dumbass.
    • krets, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14. ?
      5. Profit!
    • 2oonhed, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2....which button is the red button?
  • micromause, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Why don't you guys just disable the setting (off by default) that allows anyone to post shouts? It's friends only by default, and even that can be turned off.
    • FyreGoddess, on 10/18/2007, -0/+8Because 90% of the ACTUAL problem is that people have added these spammers as their friends.
  • expat001, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3YUP, I knew the shout feature was just a very bad idea.

    But I like everything else they added.
    • otatop, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The shout feature pretty much just takes out the middle man for all the people who get 2+ front page stories a day. Now instead of using Gabbly or Google Talk, all they have to do is shout at their friends to Digg each others' stories. I think Digg did this on purpose. The only way they could help them out anymore would be to add a "Digg All Friends Submissions" button.
  • Vparticle, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I use shouts to tell a person why I added them as a friend. It's very difficult to communicate with friends only over Digg. There is no private messaging system, is there?
  • Holocaust, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1w00t!
  • objectcode, on 10/10/2007, -5/+0bury this pos
  • hiPpymIck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7i got one asking me for a return Digg - claiming to have Dugg a post id made
    but then i havent made any submissions recently

    ..i thought that was stretching it a bit
  • vexter, on 10/10/2007, -12/+1Id like to see blocking brought back with a more options. Take an atheism post for example, Id like a feature that blocks everyone that dugg the post. If you dugg an atheism post I never want too read your idiotic dribble. BRING BACK THE BLOCK!!!!!!!!
    • tito13kfm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Welcome to my block list.. You are the 17th person to make it this far. Congratulations.
  • SteelChicken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I turned all that crap off, lame. Why couldn't they default it to all off and then let people turn it on if they want?
  • MerryMortician, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1i have one friend. no shouts. .....yay.
  • TeMerc, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7As a now 'former' member of the bury brigade, I say good luck to Digg.

    The F-ing spam has gotten so absurd in the last couple of weeks, I give up and I'm throwin in the hat. Trying to look thru 'Upcoming Stories' is a joke. Page after page, 50% spam, minimum.

    FU spammers, FU Digg for allowing it. Digg is dead, save for some occasional interesting stuff. Too much redundancy, spam, redundancy, spam.
    • perkonis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Got to agree with you there. I've been spending more time in the upcoming section lately and that place is only half a step removed from ch33p c14lis!!! I probably bury 6-8 stories for everyone that I digg.
      At least getting shoutspammed makes the crap easier to find.
  • fancypantscz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7So does this explain why I suddenly have more fans. My number of fans has increased by 25% in a day and a half and I have been digging for over a year. Granted this was not so hard to do but all these new fans add me at the same time as they add about 50 others. I have no spam shouts so whats going on here. I'm I ignorant of some aspect of 'the algorithm' or do shouting and bigger pictures really make diggers more friendly?
    • Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7They add you, and everybody else, in an effort to get you to add them back. Then you'll receive their shouts.

      If you don't know them, don't add them as a friend. Just ignore them. And go to your email settings to turn off the email you get when somebody adds you as a friend.
      • fancypantscz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Duh... well that makes complete sense. Thanks!
        And just for the record, all those new fans starting digging this September.
        I dunno, the longer I use digg the less I like any new changes.
  • agrublev, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Yah i might have to block digg from my mail filter!
    • dfltr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2My Profile -> Settings -> email settings -> click "No Email" for whatever you don't want to receive.

      ain't it grand?
  • Raiku, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I never knew of this feature.
  • Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Set it to only allow you to receive shouts from "My Friends" (the default setting) and then choose your friends more carefully. If they send you spam, remove them from your friends list.

    Seems obvious, no?
  • BillDoE, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This is exactly I have refused all friend requests.
  • Defuser, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Wouldn't it be easier to just remove all of the "Friends" horsecrap from Digg altogether? That way stories would be dug or buried based on... *gasp*... MERIT, and not on how many idiots have teamed up to promote each other?
  • Ostermayer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1shouts should only be allowed if you are mutual friends
  • sirmasterboy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I haven't received a single shout, no clue why your being spammed...
  • DanAndJenn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You do realize that you can just turn of the Shout feature or only allow Shouts from your friends? Unlike Netscape, I mean Propeller, that will let you blast anyone that you add to your friends list. That's uncontrolled. At least Digg gave us a way to turn it off.
  • guimonkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2reminds me of the fountain in Stormwind
  • fredhondaman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1It takes 2 seconds to change your settings..if your to lazy then you deserve to be spammmed
  • juliehardman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The people complaining about shouts are the same people who have 300 IM friends. Those 300 friends send "shouts" to each other through IM all day long. I wonder could it be that the playing field is being leveled. Isn't that right spade boy!
  • GreedKills, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3buried as spam, ironic huh?
  • digitallysick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Ive been added to a few peoples "friends" list, they have about 500+ people on the list. Reminds me of myspace... Of course, you will probably never talk to these people, but you will get their spam for sure
  • jaymulder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1No one has shouted at me. I just used it to send myself a link for later use. Just turn it off.
  • WaterDragon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I have 'shouts' turned off...but I get several emails every day, "expressing an interest", by people whose dugg and submitted stories have absolutely nothing in common with my own.
    And they are all from NEW members. This REEKS of SPAM!

    I mean, I got several from people who are really into cars...and nothing could be further from my interests, as anyone can see from my profile.

    Digg was not broken, and didn't need fixing! Perhaps there is pressure from the more moneyed 'investers', who ultimately will OWN digg.
    Shame.

    I was happy with Digg even before the new threaded comment system began, as many others were.
  • reed311, on 10/21/2007, -1/+2Yeah, I've been getting several that want me to Digg Ron Paul stories.
    • Flashman, on 10/21/2007, -1/+1That's not spam, man, it's DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
  • mariachi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Uh, no, I haven't gotten a message asking what I "think of think."
  • ewang, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1So all this spam is the reason I couldn't get any attention for a serious story (specifically http://digg.com/political_opinion/Is_the_Governmen ...

    Great. Now I know why I need to spend time at other places I guess...
  • uidzero, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I was wondering why I was getting so many requests to check out posts about half price V1agra ;-)
  • preved, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6spam-shout = not a friend anymore
  • liamvictor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Doesn't anyone else see the irony in "black hat seo diary" complaining about spam?
  • bouche, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I figured it out! The guy was just making up ***** to get people to go to the ***** blog! That`s IT!
  • nexah3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3GOOD THING I HAVE NO FRIENDS



    on digg
  • darkism, on 10/18/2007, -2/+1Pish, Diggers think everything is spam.
  • gotamd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1We need to have the option of getting Digg digest emails daily. I'm tired of getting six or so emails a day from Digg.
  • grd23, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Or just shout to those who are "mutual" friends and have something there to say "if you think this as spamming kindly let me know". It's all about communication.
  • emcelettronica, on 10/18/2007, -1/+1Add to friend + shout is great!
    Everyone one can take a visibility...
    and if You don't want Shout, can block it, where is the problem?
  •  

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