In Soviet Russia...

[greatbear]

I don't get these random, Russian-language LJers that "friend" me for a period of several weeks to a few months, then take off. Some seem to be ostensibly "valid" bloggers with actual content (at least after being parsed through Babelfish into English) though a few have been filled with what looks like news feeds or something similar to make them appear to be anything but a bot. What purpose do they serve? And are the "mutual" friend-of blogs real, or just a network of bots as well? I don't get it. I get hit with them a lot. I never reciprocate.

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! I've had three of those friend me in the past few months.

They always turn out to be just ads for acne cream, clothes, appliances, etc, when I check them out.. so, I ban them.

That might sound severe.. if they were actual bloggers like us, but they are just out to cash in on LJ users.

[putzmeisterbear.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I haven't had any of that. Of course having said that I'll be getting a bunch now I'm sure.

[nebris.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that many of the sites they link to are Phishing sites loaded with Malware meant to zombie your comp for organized crime hacking nets.

~M~

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Now that is downright scary!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I got friended the other day and have not bothered to even check him/her out or anything but I've gotten these kinds of friendings in the past, after clicking on their name and see what it is, I often just ignore, occasionally ban or simply do none of the above and usually they just disappear or unfriend eventually.

Fortunately, I don't get them too often so usually not an issue.

[geometrician.livejournal.com]

I instantly ban them. I'm not sure that all of them are up to no good, though I suspect so. In any case there is absolutely no chance for a lasting friendship of any kind since I have no understanding of Cyrillic languages and no capacity for learning them. So it's for the best.

[ailuropoda-m.livejournal.com]

It's a new sort of clever bot.

[gryphons-hole.livejournal.com]

I used to get hit with them on a regular basic, but they have slowed down to the point that I no longer notice.

I have no idea about their purpose...

[2stroker.livejournal.com]

They are fishing for personal information to steal your identity .Block them,report them as spam, do whatever you can to fuck them up ,but don't click on any links or respond to them in any way.