OCN has fake users, fake posts.

[UltraMega]

https://www.overclock.net/threads/windows-7-pc-does-not-boot-after-disabling-driver-signature-enforcement-please-help.1811568/?post_id=29349200#post-29349200

 

https://www.overclock.net/threads/my-windows-7-pc-wont-boot-after-disabling-driver-signature-enforcement-–-need-assistance.1811570/?post_id=29349048#post-29349048

 

 

Looks like they're just inserting fake BS to boost activity. I have suspected this with OCN for a while, but now there seems to be clear proof. 

[ENTERPRISE]

Either that or they are spammers trying to look legit prior to a spam strike. 

 

That being said, a company could certainly create fake scenarios to create some form of traffic. ChatGPT can even be used to form posts for them if they wanted.

[acoustic]

8 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Either that or they are spammers trying to look legit prior to a spam strike. 

 

That being said, a company could certainly create fake scenarios to create some form of traffic. ChatGPT can even be used to form posts for them if they wanted.

 

Might be a good idea to tell people like the OP to stop throwing EHW's name around like they own the place. Posting this on OCN and saying "None of this on EHW!" isn't good advertising and won't bring a single person over besides make this place look desperate for users. Dormant spam bots aren't exactly revolutionary.

 

The reason EHW (besides the fact that you care about this place and are diligent in making sure it would be deleted ASAP) doesn't have spam bots is because it's microscopically small in comparison to OCN. It's not surprising.

Edited July 25 by acoustic

[UltraMega]

12 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Either that or they are spammers trying to look legit prior to a spam strike. 

 

That being said, a company could certainly create fake scenarios to create some form of traffic. ChatGPT can even be used to form posts for them if they wanted.

So a spam account copies another thread almost word for word, posts it a few hours later, and hopes no one will notice? Sounds possible. I'd still call that a fake post. 

Edited July 25 by UltraMega

[UltraMega]

2 minutes ago, acoustic said:

 

Might be a good idea to tell people like the OP to stop throwing EHW's name around like they own the place. Posting this on OCN and saying "None of this on EHW!" isn't good advertising and won't bring a single person over besides make this place look desperate for users. Dormant spam bots isn't exactly revolutionary.

 

The reason EHW (besides the fact that you care about this place and are diligent in making sure it would be deleted ASAP) doesn't have spam bots is because it's microscopically small in comparison to OCN. It's not surprising.

Its very rare that I post a link to EHW on OCN. Pretty rare that I post anything over there that isn't a reply to a question. 

 

I hear your point, but frankly I do not agree. And really there's nothing to lose by posting a link. Even if you're right that it "looks desperate", if that just means no one bothers to use the link, no net loss. 

[acoustic]

1 minute ago, UltraMega said:

Its very rare that I post a link to EHW on OCN. Pretty rare that I post anything over there that isn't a reply to a question. 

 

I hear your point, but frankly I do not agree. And really there's nothing to lose by posting a link. Even if you're right that it "looks desperate", if that just means no one bothers to use the link, no net loss. 

 

I hear you. I want this place to succeed too. I find myself not coming here too often due to the low activity.. I've been trying to remember to make an effort to bring my OC discussions here..

[UltraMega]

1 minute ago, acoustic said:

 

I hear you. I want this place to succeed too. I find myself not coming here too often due to the low activity.. I've been trying to remember to make an effort to bring my OC discussions here..

Not like I posted the link as an ad anyway, more like a logical response to the fact that OCN is filled with bots... try a different site. 

[Sir Beregond]

Spam bots posting crap like this, duplicates of real posts, or just ads have been on OCN for years now. That place has fallen far from the graces it once enjoyed prior to the sale to VS.

[schuck6566]

11 minutes ago, Sir Beregond said:

Spam bots posting crap like this, duplicates of real posts, or just ads have been on OCN for years now. That place has fallen far from the graces it once enjoyed prior to the sale to VS.

And my first thought when reading this thread was "VS must be drumming up business to look good for the quarterlies reports."

[Electrosoft]

I actually clicked through the link from @UltraMega to here and said, "Hmmm.....let me create an account" but I forgot I had one already.

 

I usually lurk here since signing up but I like what I see! I hope it continues to grow.

[UltraMega]

7 minutes ago, Electrosoft said:

I actually clicked through the link from @UltraMega to here and said, "Hmmm.....let me create an account" but I forgot I had one already.

 

I usually lurk here since signing up but I like what I see! I hope it continues to grow.

Haha, nice. Welcome back

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, acoustic said:

 

Might be a good idea to tell people like the OP to stop throwing EHW's name around like they own the place. Posting this on OCN and saying "None of this on EHW!" isn't good advertising and won't bring a single person over besides make this place look desperate for users. Dormant spam bots aren't exactly revolutionary.

 

The reason EHW (besides the fact that you care about this place and are diligent in making sure it would be deleted ASAP) doesn't have spam bots is because it's microscopically small in comparison to OCN. It's not surprising.

I cannot control what others do outside of EHW. It is up to others to use their own decision making on whether to ignore posts from users that they do not like.

[UltraMega]

13 hours ago, acoustic said:

The reason EHW (besides the fact that you care about this place and are diligent in making sure it would be deleted ASAP) doesn't have spam bots is because it's microscopically small in comparison to OCN. It's not surprising.

Since you edited your comment, I'll reply to the part you added. 

 

I don't think this issue in regards to this specific example is a factor of OCN being a larger site. 

 

My best guess is that this bot is intentionally there to boost traffic/Google analytics. I've seen a lot of spam bots on OCN that just post links to random stuff, but I haven't seen this before, or at least not with such obvious real and fake threads on display at the same time. I suspect the bot messed up here by copying a post that was so recent, but it's entirely possible OCN has a lot more posts like this; that copy old content, alter it slightly, and repost it. 

 

11 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

I cannot control what others do outside of EHW. It is up to others to use their own decision making on whether to ignore posts from users that they do not like.

 

Can't control, but I'd be happy to remove the link if you want me to. I honestly just thought it made sense to post an link to an alt site in this context. 

Edited July 26 by UltraMega

[chandlermaki]

OCN is certainly not what it used to be, sadly. Unfortunately it's not all that active here just yet. 

[ShrimpBrime]

You guys are now a small tight nit family (team) like we are at Warp9. And that's OK! 

 

We only require traffic from our team members and not out to cater to the public and the masses opinions. 

 

And as a mod, I'm glad I don't have to herd cats and watch for posts. I mean we hardly ever get spammed even. 

 

Haven't logged into OCN since you guys left and came here. *F uck that place. It's washed up now a days (IMO).

Edited July 26 by ShrimpBrime

[Kaz]

2 hours ago, chandlermaki said:

OCN is certainly not what it used to be, sadly. Unfortunately it's not all that active here just yet. 

I'd love a news bot here.  I used to get all my tech news from OCN, but it doesn't work the same way anymore.  Sometimes I post news here, but I like to have the first paragraph or two included as a quote.  All that takes time and it's kind of just a hassle with little return. 

[gibbygano]

13 hours ago, acoustic said:

 

Might be a good idea to tell people like the OP to stop throwing EHW's name around like they own the place. Posting this on OCN and saying "None of this on EHW!" isn't good advertising and won't bring a single person over besides make this place look desperate for users. Dormant spam bots aren't exactly revolutionary.

 

The reason EHW (besides the fact that you care about this place and are diligent in making sure it would be deleted ASAP) doesn't have spam bots is because it's microscopically small in comparison to OCN. It's not surprising.

I mean, it brought me over. Granted I haven't logged into OCN forever. Just jumped onto it today for the first time in years and saw Ultra's post at the top. 

[UltraMega]

10 hours ago, Kaz said:

I'd love a news bot here.  I used to get all my tech news from OCN, but it doesn't work the same way anymore.  Sometimes I post news here, but I like to have the first paragraph or two included as a quote.  All that takes time and it's kind of just a hassle with little return. 

I used to be the main person posting news on OCN back before they changed the format and took away the news section. I usually post more news here, but I was sick lately. If you do post news, if you're on a PC it's a lot faster if you use multi-copy-paste which you can do with windows key + C/V. 

 

A news bot would be tricky because it would be hard for a bot to know what kind of news is actually relavent vs mindless clickbait. 

 

 

Side note on the site activity: I'm just a normal user, I have no stake in this site beyond just hoping it does well so we have a good place to talk about tech stuff. I don't know any details about how well either site is doing, but I just want to point out that even though the amount of active users here may not be that high, it seems like there are a lot of people visiting the site who don't have accounts. The other day the I happened to notice the list of people logged in where it also shows how many guests are on the site, and at the time there were like 5 users logged in and another 200 guests. Seemed like a lot more guest users than I would have... guessed. 

Edited July 26 by UltraMega

[Slaughtahouse]

1 hour ago, UltraMega said:

I used to be the main person posting news on OCN back before they changed the format and took away the news section. I usually post more news here, but I was sick lately. If you do post news, if you're on a PC it's a lot faster if you use multi-copy-paste which you can do with windows key + C/V. 

 

A news bot would be tricky because it would be hard for a bot to know what kind of news is actually relavent vs mindless clickbait. 

 

 

Side note on the site activity: I'm just a normal user, I have no stake in this site beyond just hoping it does well so we have a good place to talk about tech stuff. I don't know any details about how well either site is doing, but I just want to point out that even though the amount of active users here may not be that high, it seems like there are a lot of people visiting the site who don't have accounts. The other day the I happened to notice the list of people logged in where it also shows how many guests are on the site, and at the time there were like 5 users logged in and another 200 guests. Seemed like a lot more guest users than I would have... guessed. 

 

As long as every enthusiast signed up focuses their knowledge sharing here, the change and growth will naturally happen. I recommend going cold on the other platforms if possible if your objective is to help this site grow. If you're an enthusiast and love to share your experiences or help others, I don't think anyone here or there should judge where you post. We're all trying to reach the same goal (provide resources, knowledge share). 

 

I personally don't tinker with my system or spend as much money or time on my hardware as I used to, but I like to chat here with those knowledgeable. It helps me stay informed or alternatively, I can try to advise if someone calls for help (creates a thread looking for support). 

Edited July 26 by Slaughtahouse
grammar

[UltraMega]

19 minutes ago, Slaughtahouse said:

 

As long as every enthusiast signed up focuses their knowledge sharing here, the change and growth will naturally happen. I recommend going cold on the other platforms if possible if your objective is to help this site grow. If you're an enthusiast and love to share your experiences or help others, I don't think anyone here or there should judge where you post. We're all trying to reach the same goal (provide resources, knowledge share). 

 

I personally don't tinker with my system or spend as much money or time on my hardware as I used to, but I like to chat here with those knowledgeable. It helps me stay informed or alternatively, I can try to advise if someone calls for help (creates a thread looking for support). 

Yeah, like I said I generally don't post much there anymore. Almost never post anything myself, and only ever occasionally answer people's questions. But again, I'm just a regular user. I want this site to do well as I think we all do, but that's not why I don't use OCN much anymore. It's just because OCN is lame now, and if they are creating fake content over there, that just makes it even worse. Knowing a lot of us here came from there, it just seemed relavent to bring this up, and especially over there where it can serve as a warning to users who don't want to waste time going over fake content.