Tuesday 4 April 2017

Just because you are paranoid...

I have finally got rid of the 100s of spams and I will tell you how I did it in case it happens to you.

It turns out that someone's blog had been hi-jacked, possibly because it had lain dormant for quite a while. The sneaky thing about it was that although I was supposed to be following it (I must have followed it years ago) it did not show up anywhere on my pages, not even in the 'hidden' section of the reading list.

Everyday I would get about 50 or 60 new 'posts' appearing in my reading list, and every day I reported the very long and meaningless addresses attached to them to Google as spam. A few hours later, all the addresses were replaced - probably automatically - with new ones, and more 'posts' would appear on top. I reported about 15 addresses in total, which was hard work given the complexity of them.

Then, last night, the host blog I have not seen for years suddenly appeared at the top of the followed blogs that you can see here at the bottom of this page. I clicked on it and it turned into one of those pop-up videos trying to sell some business tool or other - I closed it down while I still could.

I went to my reading list and it did not show up anywhere there, so I Googled the blogger's name and it appeared in the search. I opened it up and there was the form which personally invited me to 'stop following'. You can imagine that I pressed that button as soon as I could! There were 936 followers left behind, and I can only think that they are still tearing their hair out as I have been for the last few days.

I went back to this blog and all the rogue posts had gone. I can only think that Google at least made the poster visible to me to allow me to find it elsewhere on the net and unfollow it, having been pestered so much with spam reports - they might have got someone to look into it for me, who knows. They never tell you.

So this morning I find all of your real posts stacked neatly one on top of the other, just waiting to be read. Things are as normal as they ever get around here.

12 comments:

  1. Well done getting to the root of the problem. That must have been a relief to "stop following"! I, for one, was a little sad when you had announced that you would stop blogging or begin a different blog. I hope I never have a similar problem. -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So do I! This is the second time but the first was easier.

      Delete
  2. Oh my .... what a palaver !!! But all is now happy and good !!
    How are you and H.I doing with quitting ? XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have stopped fags altogether but she has 4 a day. I actually feel better for it which was unexpected. I use about 10 times more fluid than she does mind!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad things have returned to normal. I like Jacqueline's use of the word palaver.

    Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just scrolled down to your blog list to have a look at it. I am still sad that we lost the Hattatts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just wished Jane Hattat a happy birthday on Facebook Iris ..... I told her that we all miss them both. XXXX

      Delete
    2. they were the only thing of real class in my life. Without them I feel rather common.

      Delete
    3. I have a friend who visited them last year, and he said they made him feel rather common too, but then again he is. I speak to them occasionally via email, but what I miss is the sheer politeness of them - a rare thing in the world of the interweb.

      Delete
  6. Weird stuff. Glad you're out the other side of it. Hope it doesn't happen to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It produces a strange emotional mixture of rage and paranoia. With a lot of people it would produce a feeling of helplessness too, but I refuse to be beaten.

      Delete