Posting baits behind a login - Split

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Posted: Sat May 26, 2018 3:21 pm

Bware

Yes Google is a double edged sword when it comes to scambaiting.

Here is a question for you and the other mods on this subject.
It seems that when things are posted under "scambaiting hints and tips" google does not find them as it is password protected.

I understand we want the main scam baiting forum to be clear and discoverable

What would the overall thought process be on putting an "advanced scam baiting forum" here?

an area that is available to all members but is password protected (like scam baiting hints ant tips). A place for baits like MUIE and TWAT (and other more advanced modalities) to be less discoverable by the search engines?

Would that work?

Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 2:49 am

I've split this here.

Once upon a time, this was a sticky. It helps explain why ongoing baits are in Main, where new members and those not registered might see what we do.

If you are uber-paranoid, post your bait in the Premium Forum. If donating to keep Eater running is not for you, learn to use the "Search and Replace" function in your word processor, post only first names of your and the lad's characters, and rename any identifiable organization you may use in your bait.

Oscarpiles and I run characters named Darla and Anita. Searches shouldn't bring a lad here. We have continually adapted the name of their company for posting purposes, now calling it Titlanta. A search of the actual name will not lead here. A little due diligence when posting is all it really takes...

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 19

I don't know how easy the forum is to modify, but a useful feature could be an auto-replace - so for example each baiter can enter a list of switch out terms with their replacement terms to add an extra safety net and avoid manual donkey work. Could be done for the church, the delivery company, any similar items. And your own name in case you absent mindedly "sign" a post

it could also work for email addresses so you could replace

[email protected] with <lads email address>
[email protected] with <wolf email address> to help the story flow
and then any other non-recognised email to just <snip>

if the forum can't be modded then maybe a standalone app ?

Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 1:04 pm

^^^Here we go. Issue resolved.

Instructional Video here.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 2:10 pm

That looks like a great tool.

I do believe the spirit of my question was misinterpreted.
I am fully aware of why the main scam baiting forum is crawl able and discoverable.

I was not aware of the one hidden under premium...going to rectify that shortly Smile

My thought was simply a forum in addition to the main scambaiting forum that will stay as it is...

An additional spot so that more advanced baiting modalities can be seen by all members but are less discoverable by the search engines. A place for baits to be password protected that even with diligent editing, by design, still puts quite a bit out there.

As diligent for example as Birlic is with editing, cant edit out everything in a bait like that. Especially when it comes to trophies and such.

It was just a thought.

The tool above is a nice add to the tool box.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 2:19 pm

sportbluecanyon wrote:

Quote:

more advanced baiting modalities

How do you determine what is more advanced?

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 2:30 pm

Fair question...maybe I wasn't clear...maybe advanced was not the right word....maybe I should have said "more complex"....like the church baits for example...the more in depth baits where even with creative editing they can't, by design be totally search engine sanitized....

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 5:53 pm

Sure they can. Don't name the church. Or use your term and don't use the word "church." Use a bit of common sense.

A Google search of the word "" lists the website named here on page six.
A search of the words "" lists connections to Eater in the first six references.

Search "" and there's nothing related here on the first 10 pages. Do the same for "MUIE Church" and boom, number one hit.

The "more complex" the bait, the more generic the terms you use. While it's quite funny to have the Church of Giant Nuts, or whatever, it's not essential to the bait or posts.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 19

this is exactly where an "auto-mask" facility would pay dividends, though. You want your baiters to spend their time baiting, not search n replacing.

Automation of a no value add task, that has bad consequences (i.e. lads can find this site) if not done would seem to be a useful feature

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 10:00 pm

What about the trophies
Photos posted

with the church names and the like

The reality is...at least from my point of view the more complex the bait the more difficult it is to fully sanitize

My humble opinion nothing more

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 19

someone holding a picture of "TWAT" or "MUIE" doesn't show up in a search for TWAT or MUIE though.

Although I dread to think what the future holds...

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 10:13 pm

Even in an image search?1

Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 10:53 pm

@captain penguin: As far as I know masking costs bandwith which in turn cost money so it is best used sparingly.

Since my technical Wizardry consists of rubbing sticks together for fire and making snares out of this odd wire I found installed in the walls of my house, how exactly would this algorithm choose what to mask automatically and what not to?

@sportsbluecanyon: I’d like to think all baits are complex or at least have a certain level of complexity to them. And while not trying to be a complete dick I keep picturing the Mod Team voting in countless hidden polls as to why or why not a certain bait should have the merit to be welcomed into what I would consider a somewhat elite area of Eater.

Although I have Church baited here and there and enjoy reading them I’ve never actually found them overly complex but rather highly entertaining. Being said, perhaps the complexity could lie in a bait where someone can take a bank account from a lad or maybe two or maybe twenty all the while posting his/her results on an open Forum. Personally such a Bait although may be not nearly as entertaining as reading but really does have something tangible to offer; it destroys a Lad’s resources, friendships, business relationships and credibility much more so than the same Lad putting a loaf of bread in his mouth while trying to recite the Lord’s Prayer.

@Everyone: All in all if you are careful when posting then probably nothing bad will happen and if you do not have the confidence or time to edit your posts you probably shouldn’t be sending electronic correspondence to anyone, anywhere or at any time.

I FIND MYSELF GROWING FATIGUED

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:55 pm

Oscar
Perhaps that was not the right word either.

here is a great example of a bait that could have benefited from being hidden behind a log in (it actually was for most of it...it was just "moved back where it belongs" after it died)...

problem is now that it is out in the open it can be crawled which hurts the modality....

https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=282741

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:07 pm

I’ve been away and was trundling along the Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) when I read this and had actually forgotten about the topic…

I really don’t have a dog in this fight and when it was decided by the Mod team to clean up Eater a tad and put the appropriate threads where they belonged I simply became a wee bit more careful. Nothing more.

Sure I’ve had Baits rumbled before and have had Lads come to Eater but that is not the sites fault but rather my co-Baiters (KIDDING). If one is sloppy then one can expect sloppy results also if one is being sloppy then they might not be Baiting safe to begin with.

Honestly the only real outcome that I can perceive with my itty bitty mind is less traffic to Eater if certain Baits are hidden behind a log-in. Plus I’d have no excuse to use Carl33to when Carleeto would work and that would be much more less funny. That is assuming my Baits were allowed in such a Forum.

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 10:51 pm

Damn. Big X asked me to move it back to Main and I was thinking of bringing it up for inclusion in Greatest Hits. Perhaps it would be much better to hide it away as suggested so future baits aren't rumbled.

I also think it's choosing to not accept responsibility when you blame where a bait is posted for a rumble instead of realizing it was discovered based on what the scambaiter chose to post. Neither the Mods nor Admins actively edit baits outside of the guidelines (though requests are made for small edits of previous posts, from time to time). Content is controlled by the baiter when they post. But, that's just me.

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:15 am

Just to clarify, the Archie bait spent most of its life in Main. I only wanted it to be moved behind a login to save the bait when the lad found himself on Eater. Now that it doesn't matter anymore, it can go back out in the open, and I asked Bware to move it again.

Honestly, I prefer my baits being in the open as much as possible. It gets them more exposure, and that engages other baiters (and guests who might be inspired to become baiters) and gives them new ideas. I think that's worth the risk of the lad finding himself through Google. Plus, I like the challenge.

If the modality is blown, that's fine. It's trivially easy to change the name of the Church.

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 2:17 am

I think once again my commentary is being misconstrued or misunderstood.
I am not "blaming" anyone
I understand why we list most baits out in the open.
I understand there is a section available only to premium members.
I simply think (and I am not the only one) who thinks there is value in having an area behind password for all members to access to post baits of a longer/more complex nature where it is easy to overlook details in a post...

OR

where when even sanitized ... a good part of the bait is given up.

I like it here and I am not trying to piss in anyones wheaties. I am not blaming anyone for anything. I simply think there is value in a separate "secured scambating forum" (I dont care what it is called) that is available to all members, that is password protected...for baits not to be crawled. Admins can always move straight/simple baits to the main forum as appropriate.

Thank you all for what we are here doing. And I apologize if I came off wrong.

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:33 am

Is it possible to have a forum that's open to the public but can't be crawled by Google?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 19

>Is it possible to have a forum that's open to the public but can't be crawled by Google?

yes and no. if you take the whole lot out of google, no-one will find the site or pages but from a technical point of view, you can mark a page or pages to be "NOINDEX" which will mean that WELL BEHAVED search engines will not add the page to the cache. To most intents and purposes, the big search engines are well behaved and will respect the NOINDEX tag.

It could be possible to tag individual threads as NOINDEX (i.e. live baits) and then remove that tag later on if desired. Would need a small change to the underlying phpBB software but not that hard to do I would guess. This could be a useful addition

With respect to an "auto mask" that wouldn't use bandwidth, but it would have to have a manual list of terms to replace - ideally each baiter would set and manage their own to and from terms. This also could be quite slick and avoid manual search and replace work and potential errors. And allow baiters to spend more time baiting and less time copy n pasting...

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 10:45 am

All I'm reading here is a lot of pathetic whining from fucking snowflakes who are too lazy to put in the effort to protect their own baits, and want someone else to take the responsibility away from them.

Quote:

an area behind password for all members to access

So, all the "lurkers" who enjoy the baits, but for whatever reason don't want to register won't be able to see them. Some of those long-term lurkers have eventually registered and become valued members of the community. If they'd arrived and found nothing of interest, they'd have probably not bothered hanging around.

Quote:

ideally each baiter would set and manage their own to and from terms

Great idea Rolling Eyes

. Those lists would end up with lots of over cautious baiters leeting words like "John", resulting in totally unreadable baits and more work for the mods tidying things up. Not to mention the processor time that would be needed to do all of this auto masking on every single post on the forum.

All text editors come with easy to use search and replace (some even allow macros to be recorded, so you could do all your search and replace with the press of a button), so it shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming to sanitise a post and if you can't manage it/can't be bothered then don't post your baits - it's that simple.

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 3:08 pm

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 3:32 pm

//done here

Rolling Eyes

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:23 pm

I'm sorry if members are unable to figure out how to post a bait without identifiable information. Solutions have been presented. An additional forum has been discussed in the Mod Room and it was not found necessary.

It was long ago decided that Main is the proper place for new users and the curious to see and follow, rather than burying extensive threads for a few members here to read.

As I type this, there are 4 registered members online, but 22 guests viewing the forum. To Big X's point, we'd like others to see the work being done, and maybe add them in the future.

The decision to share and educate others far outweighs the excuses to not "search and replace." This is why that type of forum does not exist. As this has turned nasty and been discussed ad nauseam (including in the link I originally posted), I am locking this.

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 9:40 am

Bware gave some great advice. If you listen to her your ongoing baits will be fine. However, if you're ever unsure, all you have to do is ask for help or advice.

The mod team has discussed this matter in great detail. As bware said, it comes down to the benefits outweigh the risks. If you follow bware's advice, the risk is about nil.

I think your question/suggestion was answered well. If not let me make it crystal clear. Regarding a PW proctected forum for ongoing baits, the answer is NO.

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