Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#1

Post by vqc » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 8:41 PM UTC

I just noticed a user, https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=vipbababd, that seems to be taking a random comment in a submission and reposting that comment in the same submission.

The user profile contains a link to a stream to an upcoming boxing match. Is this an SEO play? Would this even work for SEO? Or hoping to farm some karma and then sell the account?

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#2

Post by bifrost » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 8:57 PM UTC

I doubt it'll work. Looks like there were some legit responses, and then a bunch of spam.

My guess would be someone testing something.

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#3

Post by dang » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

We noticed that a few minutes ago and banned the account and moved the replies back to their rightful parents.

If you guys notice more duplicate comments appearing in threads, will you please let us know? This was a pain to fix manually, so the sooner the better.

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#4

Post by minimaxir » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 9:04 PM UTC

Huh, even on Reddit this kind of strategy would be trivially detectable.

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#5

Post by geoka9 » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 9:09 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #3

We noticed that a few minutes ago and banned the account and moved the replies back to their rightful parents. If you guys notice more duplicate comments appearing in threads, will you please let us know? This was a pain to fix manually, so the sooner the better.

> will you please let us know?

What's the best way to do that?

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#6

Post by Matsta » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 9:26 PM UTC

This is an example of Parasite SEO. You get a site with high Authority site that you can put some content on (HN/Reddit/Medium/Steemit/GetJar). Then you send a lot (100k+) spammy backlinks and then rank for some difficult terms.

Google doesn't penalise big sites for spammy backlinks compared to a fresh domain, and also with the high authority, it will rank a lot quicker.

A good way to find example of Parasites is to search "Fortnite hack". I can see links from LinkedIn, Steam Workshop and a PDF hosted on a hacked (presumably) website for a roofing company.

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#7

Post by mtmail » Mon, Jul 15, 2019, 11:07 PM UTC

geoka9 wrote: post #5

dang wrote: post #3

We noticed that a few minutes ago and banned the account and moved the replies back to their rightful parents. If you guys notice more duplicate comments appearing in threads, will you please let us know? This was a pain to fix manually, so the sooner the better.

> will you please let us know? What's the best way to do that?

The contact link in the footer of the website (hn@ycombinator.com)

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#8

Post by dang » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:41 AM UTC

Matsta wrote: post #6

This is an example of Parasite SEO. You get a site with high Authority site that you can put some content on (HN/Reddit/Medium/Steemit/GetJar). Then you send a lot (100k+) spammy backlinks and then rank for some difficult terms. Google doesn't penalise big sites for spammy backlinks compared to a fresh domain, and also with the high authority, it will rank a lot quicker. A good way to find example of Parasites is to…

Can you explain this again in more detail? Not being versed in SEO ways, I want to understand it but don't.

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#9

Post by gitgud » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 5:08 AM UTC

Matsta wrote: post #6

This is an example of Parasite SEO. You get a site with high Authority site that you can put some content on (HN/Reddit/Medium/Steemit/GetJar). Then you send a lot (100k+) spammy backlinks and then rank for some difficult terms. Google doesn't penalise big sites for spammy backlinks compared to a fresh domain, and also with the high authority, it will rank a lot quicker. A good way to find example of Parasites is to…

That's fascinating, the lengths that people will go to to get their site ranked is amazing.

What about backlink providers, there's thousands of companies that try to increase your ranking by backlinking for you, does Google penalize those companies?

Re: Ask HN: What is this HN spam bot doing?

#10

Post by asdkhadsj » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

Matsta wrote: post #6

This is an example of Parasite SEO. You get a site with high Authority site that you can put some content on (HN/Reddit/Medium/Steemit/GetJar). Then you send a lot (100k+) spammy backlinks and then rank for some difficult terms. Google doesn't penalise big sites for spammy backlinks compared to a fresh domain, and also with the high authority, it will rank a lot quicker. A good way to find example of Parasites is to…

Fascinating. I despise a lot of the scummy behavior on the internet, yet I am so often amazed by the ingenuity and perverse incentives that get exposed by people that develop these.

I admire them, in a very weird and mostly despised way.