Something happened today at the Daily Mail? sHillbots.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye


It's popular...no matter how tabloidish it is. And it attracts a large conservative audience and always has since I've been familiar with it, for easily 5 years.

It's main attraction is not it's beleaguered petty Little Englander version of conservatism but the tacky celebrity news.

Great job, Mother! Good investigative skills! Keep on it!

originally posted by: IAMTAT
The research on this topic is excellent!
Anyone have any new ideas as to how this could be set up?

Well, depending on the architecture comment system employed, it would be easy to accomplish. This is technical stuff, but say the comment up/down controls are a web service function. If you analyzed the calls of the _javascript to the server, you could find the function name and web service namespace and just create a command-line function that calls this webservice n times where n is equivalent to a 'click' on the 'like' or 'dislike' button.

You can also get past any unique ip address requirement by using a command-line function that is not called from a browser. You'd simply have to populate an http header with the values you want to spoof, including the ip address, and inside the loop above, you would call a function that creates a random valid ipaddress and returns it.

Obviously something like this is what has occurred, because it's physically impossible for 1000+ clicks to have been hit in a second, when, statistically one looks at the comment counts of other comments.

Again, anyone can find out what the calls are, for instance, if they have chrome and click on the menu button in the upper-right corner and selecte 'more tools...' -> developer tools, then find the _javascript function that calls the server, and breakpoint on that line of code...

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Also, I am aware of that website you posted. I was looking at the graphs they had, which brought me to comment on how their system works. If you look at one graph such as this:

www.fakegreenarrows.com...

You can see that a lot of users upvotes jump straight up at the same time. This points to there being delayed vote tallys published on their website.

Although it shows they jump from less than 50 to greater than 500 votes in 15 minutes, it makes me think they actually got all those votes long before and they just didn't display until later.

I don't think so. There's absolutely NO REASON IN THE WORLD to queue results of a freaking 4-byte value to a database. If I were looking to speed up a slow web page, this would be the absolute LAST PLACE I would look to design a solution, because the negatives for implementing this far outweigh and benefits. You do NOT speed up anything in the web-world by saving 4 bytes from being updated on a database. All databases these days have their own caching abilities internally to optimize the updating/inserting /deleting of rows. You're not going to get faster than that unless you coded the whole web app in assembler.

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
a reply to: Puppylove

See my post here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I did make one.

But they don't allow you to upvote multiple times with the same IP and same Cookies, nor in a short amount of time. I would have to obtain a list of working proxies, and modify my code to send POST requests using said proxies. It would be slow, but possible. You would then have to maintain a list of those proxies, because proxies come and go.

To answer your question, yes.... but it wouldn't do what is claimed by some here, which is 1400 upvotes in seconds, it just wouldn't work that fast.

Well, that's not true. It's easy enough to spoof an ip address in code, especially if you're not using a browser to update the web function (or web service). So it would be easy enough to spoof ip addresses in each call. I know, because I've done it many times. All you have to do is change the http headers. It's not like browsers take the ip addresses from the routers...it's all passed in http headers and is easy to spoof.

That's why companies make big bucks creating web analytic apps that have to analyze the iproutes (which is not stored in an http header) of online perps to discover where something truly originated from. And even these routes can be spoofed, as you said, with things like VPN, and other means...

a reply to: MotherMayEye

I do indeed feel that way. It's strangely.... palpable to me. Like gravity is tenth a G more than normal or something. This political race is the perfect illustration of the concept: "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Hence I'm voting Jill Stein, and the world can hang.

originally posted by: WeAre0ne

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

But, I am also now compelled to say that here is how I believe the up-voting/down-voting script/bot works: Someone who is very pro-Hillary & anti-Trump appears to be basically infecting targeted DailyMail accounts with an automatic script that consistently up votes or down votes their comments by the hundreds and thousands and it's instantaneous even if you have to 'refresh' the page to see the jump.

Hmm, you gave me an idea. I will test it.

Well, here's why I don't think it's anything so complicated as an infected account. You do not need to HAVE an account to use the up/down arrows in the DM comments section! So there is an anonymous capability of whatever that function/web service call is, and would be easily spoofed, as I've said above, so there'd be no need to only attach it to some account, which would be very difficult to do, and would depend on design vulnerabilities in the content-management system being used by DM to track accounts, comments, articles, etc.

originally posted by: nomoredemsorreps

originally posted by: WeAre0ne

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

But, I am also now compelled to say that here is how I believe the up-voting/down-voting script/bot works: Someone who is very pro-Hillary & anti-Trump appears to be basically infecting targeted DailyMail accounts with an automatic script that consistently up votes or down votes their comments by the hundreds and thousands and it's instantaneous even if you have to 'refresh' the page to see the jump.

Hmm, you gave me an idea. I will test it.

Well, here's why I don't think it's anything so complicated as an infected account.

But it is a bot that attaches to targeted accounts. Whether it's hard or easy to do, that's what's happening.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

I am also inclined to think it attaches to users. Because,
I wish I could remember the article but, is was some Hollywood gossip that barely had any comments. All the up votes added to under 200 and the down votes also, except for one comment, it had 700+ down votes.. It wasn't a main comment but a reply... It just looked so out of place you could tell they were rigged..

I wonder about something I read where bots on certain sites will issue say 100 down votes for every up vote and vice versa... Maybe this is also happening.

originally posted by: misfit312
a reply to: MotherMayEye

I am also inclined to think it attaches to users. Because,
I wish I could remember the article but, is was some Hollywood gossip that barely had any comments. All the up votes added to under 200 and the down votes also, except for one comment, it had 700+ down votes.. It wasn't a main comment but a reply... It just looked so out of place you could tell they were rigged..

I am 100% certain this thing is targeting accounts. All of the comments I left yesterday morning suddenly & simultaneously had hundreds of up votes. They were left under multiple articles.

And like I pointed out in my OP, certain people are getting exclusively up- or down-voted.

I am positive this is not a comment-specific thing. It's something that is attached to targeted DM accounts.

I think with the right software they will soon be able to customize their propaganda into more complex and deep seeded methods.
Main stream media is long dead ,sacrificed on the alter of politics.
WHATEVER they say is irrelevant now ,only what they do.

I personally don't see what difference that makes opinion is an opinion real or fabricated. The ignorant follow and care about random opinion that isn't even a damned opinion just a click that says uh huh george yeah i like this opinion george like it fing matters its online most stuff online is pure fabrication offline to with a bunch of insecure cant be themself people.

So when the entire world weve made up here is mostly conceptual make believe fabrication of concept on top of nature who seriously gives a fing feck about the make believe.

Humanity has gotten lost in its own made up make believe to the point where all of it and nearly everyone appears insane.

So some clicks whether real or fabricated matter oh well Billy you wanna be popular dontcha? Do what all the other little clones do to appear normal and blend in cause you qant to have the best opportunity to propagate that same ignorance to Jane through that lil guy we call Dick.

Paid digital Astroturfing effort by Correct The Record, the SuperPAC that directly coordinating with Clinton campaign, appears to be, and has been in complete violation of FEC regulations.

does it occur to anyone that maybe forces outside our country, would love nothing better than for the American public to become so paranoid and polarized, that we turn on each other and create chaos, as has happened in so many other countries?

originally posted by: jimmyx
does it occur to anyone that maybe forces outside our country, would love nothing better than for the American public to become so paranoid and polarized, that we turn on each other and create chaos, as has happened in so many other countries?

It's been happening here for a while now hasn't it.

Looks like that CTR email is shaking the tree.
I'd love to see more of these...especially as they relate to social media.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

I post on the daily mail and read the comments every day.. cant say i ever see my comment.. i thought it had to be moderated before it was posted...but i do see the statement sometimes "these comments have not been moderated"... buti never seem to check if it has been displayed or what arrows i get... but i do believe like all the media "they have an agenda"... anyhow interesting observation

originally posted by: Konduit
Paid digital Astroturfing effort by Correct The Record, the SuperPAC that directly coordinating with Clinton campaign, appears to be, and has been in complete violation of FEC regulations.

Wow. That pic of the email is indeed disturbing. The schmuck acts like impersonating someone online is perfectly fine and dandy and that there isn't anything nefarious about the act.

When in fact, it's a very slimy thing to do, for ANY political party. The worst part is that there are brainwashed fools that would actually listen to this kind of pap. I sure wouldn't, but all one has to do is watch some of the videos of people saying they want to vote for 'that Karl Marx guy' in the next election, to realize the intelligence level of some people is a lot lower than we might think...

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: jimmyx
does it occur to anyone that maybe forces outside our country, would love nothing better than for the American public to become so paranoid and polarized, that we turn on each other and create chaos, as has happened in so many other countries?

It's been happening here for a while now hasn't it.

I have not one doubt at all that this is exactly what their goal is. I've watched and researched this 'group' or whatever you want to call them for years and it's all about divide and conquer; problem/reaction/solution.

That's why criminals like George Soros finance groups like Black Lives Matter to the tune of millions, and why he funds losers like Al Gore with millions. They don't care about the sides, really, unless it leads to globalization. As long as they are creating chaos, they've got the 'solution' for it.

If you think the 'Patriot Act', which was over 1500 pages long, was something that wasn't complete and on someone's desk months or years before 9/11 ever happened, you've been living in a different world than I have. When these paid non-profit 'thinktanks' like the New American Century come up with documents that say that to accomplish their goals would require a 'new pearl harbor', you can BET that they've thought the whole process out, including any laws they want to get passed, even down to the freaking ironic and insulting name they came up for it.

I mean, can you just imagine the aholes in the room that came up with 'The Patriot Act'? Which is some acronym I've forgotten? They were probably slapping each other on the back with 'good job'! Great idea! And having a good laugh. At OUR EXPENSE.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: misfit312
a reply to: MotherMayEye

I am also inclined to think it attaches to users. Because,
I wish I could remember the article but, is was some Hollywood gossip that barely had any comments. All the up votes added to under 200 and the down votes also, except for one comment, it had 700+ down votes.. It wasn't a main comment but a reply... It just looked so out of place you could tell they were rigged..

I am 100% certain this thing is targeting accounts. All of the comments I left yesterday morning suddenly & simultaneously had hundreds of up votes. They were left under multiple articles.

And like I pointed out in my OP, certain people are getting exclusively up- or down-voted.

I am positive this is not a comment-specific thing. It's something that is attached to targeted DM accounts.

See, I don't get how you're arriving at that solution with such certainty. As I've said, the online function, however it's presented to the website, is allowing anonymous access, so even a non-account holder can access it.

Just because a handful of comments are showing the high results does not mean it's account related. It just as easily (in fact much more easily) could be someone who doesn't want to have to pick out every single account name, and picks some of the pro Clinton comments and hits on them.

In fact, there's no way it's account related, because if it was, the function would be TRACKING the account and preventing multiple clicks that way. I've said it once and I'll say it again, only because it's important for people to undetstand how easy it is to do these things: All you'd have to do is use the developer tools in chrome to find the calling function and the parameters sent. Then create a command-line function that spoofs the http headers (which you would HAVE TO DO and again, precludes this being an account level hack), and randomly creates valid ip addresses, since that is MOST DEFINITELY the way the function is preventing people from voting twice, since anonymous people can click the buttons! Then just put the thing in a loop, with a username in the command line.

Run the function once for each user name/comment you want to hit. Job done. There is absolutely NO REASON at all that it has to be as complicated as a freaking account hack, which would require SO MANY MORE THINGS to be screwed up in the code for it to work in the first place. There's have to be some kind of injection allowing architecture to allow that kind of hack. Sorry, but you're wrong. Or at least, there is a much easier way to accomplish this than what you have posited and locked your brain on, without opening it to other obvious possibilities.

This is 35 years of coding experience and 22 years of net experience talking, so you won't convince me otherwise, given the amount of data we have at this point.