BlackHat video: Xrumer, the forum spamming software

Ever wanted to see how one of the many available (PMBlaster, Zunker, Xrumer etc.) forum spamming software looks and runs like ?

See Xrumer in action.

What’s interesting to see in the video above, from the WhiteHat point of view, is how the program works. The procedures, the checklists, the options, so you can build your own anti-spam blockade.

Some of you guys, will be amazed to see how captchas and/or math spam questions are like so … 1945.

Important: Please be aware that I do NOT endorse, NOR do I recommend the use of such spamming software, except for your own, personal and private use, to see how the program functions. As one user says in this WP article about Xrumer, you have to know the enemy and the weapons used by the enemy before you can defend against them.

BlogRush – A new MyBlogLog ?

BlogRushThese days, I am testing BlogRush, an ad network built by John Reese of Income.com. I want to state from the beginning, that BlogRush is not breaking news. Everybody has wrote about it. Below I will write my own input and that’s it. Moreover, I will try to get a few hundred referrals with the help of the Internet God. :)

BlogRush is your average pyramidal (meaning you can have sub-affiliates and sub-sub-affiliate and … you get the idea) banner / link exchange network, just that it’s presented in a Web 2.0 form: a widget, which you can put in your blog’s sidebar, or in your website’s utility spot.

Continue reading BlogRush – A new MyBlogLog ?

Short mention about my blog beeing spammed

I am beeing overrun with tens of comments from this very sick guy (real human, not robot), so I was forced to put all the comments to moderate status, as well as banning the entire .rima-tde.net hostname. Banning individual IP’s didn’t worked. The guy kept coming back.

Any ideas for my problem guys ?

Update: The guy keep on doing it (now using Romanian IPs, USA IPs etc):

Spammer

I guess it’s the price to pay when you have “admirers”.

The V7N Directory affiliate program. The definite stop.

So… Everyone uses affiliate marketing. On both sides of the deal. This post is about the marketers looking for the best converting affiliate programs from web directories.

Now a lot of web directories have affiliate programs, but most of them convert very poorly. As far as I am concerned, I tried about all of them, and the best converting one was the V7N Directory.

What I want to mention is that although John Scott and myself know each other, this is not a “pay per post”, a “friendly recommendation” or neither of these kind of scenarios. It’s just my own experience with web directory affiliate programs.

Continue reading The V7N Directory affiliate program. The definite stop.

Yahoo! Search Marketing Coupon: $50 ($100?)

Sign-up today for Yahoo! Search Marketing, and you get a $50 free PPC credit:

Offer open to new Sponsored Search advertisers only. (A new advertiser is one who has not advertised with Yahoo! Search Marketing for the past 13 months). Each account requires a nonrefundable $5 initial deposit. Advertisers signing up for Self Serve will receive a $0 credit into the account. Advertisers signing up for the Assisted Setup service will receive $0 off the $199 service charge. In each case, initial credits are nonrefundable and will be applied to click charges. There is a minimum bid requirement of $0.10 per click-through. Limit one offer per customer, and one use per customer on a single account. Sellers of certain legally restricted products may require third party certification at extra cost. Search listings subject to editorial review. Offer may not be combined with any other offers or discounts, separated, redeemed for cash, or transferred. Other terms and conditions may apply; see Advertiser Terms and Conditions when you sign up.

Jelsoft, creator of Vbulletin, aquired by Internet Brands

More info at Vbulletin Faq.

I wonder how the development of the most used paid forum in the world will go on from now on… especially since it has been aquired by the leading operator of media and e-commerce websites for large ticket consumer purchases in cars, mortgage, real estate & travel, which has nothing to do with what Jelsoft has been developing until now.

Will the prices increase ? Will there be a much poorer support ? That always happens in a bigger company.

Official announcement at the Vbulletin Forums.

Romanian eCommerce Awards

Link2eCommerce - Romanian eCommerce AwardsBeeing at the 2nd edition already, the Romanian e-Commerce Awards conference is the only Romanian award show that repays the performance and efforts of those involved in eCommerce, starting from banks and ending with payment gateways, online stores, services suppliers and ecommerce solutions as well as specialized press.

The awards (the same as in the first edition, on 8 June 2006) are classified is 3 categories:

  1. Awards based on statistics offered by RomCard (Credit Card processing company)
  2. Awards based on the Jury votes (not disclosed until launch day)
  3. Awards proprietary to Link2eCommerce

ePravalie (online IT&C shop) is already subscribed, so hurry and reserve your spot.

Smashing Magazine: Golden Rules of Linkbaiting

Smashing MagazineSmashing Magazine just published the Golden Rules of Linkbaiting.

As the first comment shows, I just don’t know if a week’s reading time can cover all that content.

From the article:

  • What is Linkbaiting?
  • Profound Rules of Linkbaiting
  • Writing-related Principles of Successful Linkbaiting
  • Tactics and Strategies of Linkbaiting
  • Linkbaiting Hooks
  • Copywriting: Improve Your Writing Skills
  • Copywriting Books
  • Sources, Resources

PS: My blog is mentioned :)