MovieChat Forums > Sherlock (2010) Discussion > Sincerely Worrisome IMDB Problem (Not Of...

Sincerely Worrisome IMDB Problem (Not Off-Topic)

posted 8 years ago by hilaryjrp
11 replies | jump to latest

I keep every upcoming Masterpiece show in my IMDB Favorites. Looking just now at my Favorites page, I noticed a new "Sherlock" post that I could not find when I opened the Sherlock forum. Seeing a very recent post-alert--but finding no post when you open up a board--typically signifies either a post by a user one has banned or a user who has banned you. Since no other humans are awake and posting at this hour in my time zone--Eastern Standard, U.S., December 26--I signed out of my account. IMDB then refreshed the page.

This is really alarming. I apparently had been put on a "banned" list by a spammer phishing for clicks to illegal downloads.

I report ALL such users. I mean, I report every one of them. The question is: How did they know to put me on a banned list?

I'm posting this here only because this is the first example of a phisher pre-emptively avoiding me. "Sherlock" is the type of show that will attract many novice IMDB users, so please consider them, and if you see illegal downloads or third-party sites advertised for "Sherlock" torrents, *please* report them.

Thank you for reading this post.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

I'll be signing off for the day, and it's happening again--"sexy girl" phishing photo throw-away accounts. Since they have me blocked, I signed out and got their user names if someone wants to report them: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur70170953/ and http://www.imdb.com/user/ur67602366/.

I really hope someone within IMDB isn't phishing.

If that's the case, then we all have something to worry about.

[–] Sir_Hugo_Rune 8 years ago

you know that if you report a post IMDB automatically puts that user on ignore on your behalf unless you uncheck a box when you report.

Also, if someone puts YOU on ignore, it stops them from seeing your posts, not you from seeing theres, it means they never see if you reply to them.

Given what you've described, its sounds like IMDB automatically ignored these users for you when you reported them.

His anus is soaking wet- Walter Bishop - Fringe

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Sir_Hugo_Rune 8 years ago

my signature is a line from a tv show, a scientist is determining the time of death of a body, one of those ways is to feel around an orifice for moisture, meaning putrification of internal organs. its only offensive if you choose to be offended.

For IMDB to block me from seeing these internet thieves' faces (in real life, most likely not blond Caucasian babes), I would have had to put them on an Ignore list. And these fey lassies aren't on that list.

i'll repeat, imdb does this automatically when you report a post.

theres no great conspiracy against you. IMDB has done this for at least 3 years.

His anus is soaking wet- Walter Bishop - Fringe

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

i'll repeat, imdb does this automatically when you report a post.

I'll repeat, I did not report these posts.

[–] HannahLee_3 8 years ago

Maybe other people reported them and admins deleted the threads before you came into the forums? When a poster deletes their own OP, it will still show up as deleted, but admins can delete whole threads so they no longer appear.

One way to check if the posts are hidden only for your profile or deleted for everyone is to log out and then go to the board in question to see if previously hidden posts show up.

If you realize something isn't working right, you can then report it to imdb. I don't think anyone checks the general topic boards like this one for technical issues.

Have a lovely day - John Finnemore

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

@hannahlee--

If the site had deleted the posts, I wouldn't have seen them. I notice now someone is posting here offering torrents under the thread title, "Is This Website Safe.?" Possibly the torrent-scammer actually reads this board. In any event, I can't account for how thieves know in advance who will report them.

[–] julaerenee 8 years ago

Perhaps the messages you couldn't see when you were logged in, but could see when you weren't logged in, were posted by clone accounts of users you had previously reported and blocked.

As for the post "Is this website safe?" you can tell by reading the posting history of user "xkdsknbideogjd" that it's a torrent-scammer. The thread titles are different for each post on each board, but the content is the same. They're just getting more creative in trying to get hits from clueless users.

I haven't been able to post in IMDb while away on holiday, but I'm back in action and ready to report all those nasty spammers.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Juliarenee wrote: "Perhaps the messages you couldn't see when you were logged in, but could see when you weren't logged in, were posted by clone accounts of users you had previously reported and blocked."

*********************************

I am posting from a phone, something I very rarely do. But you articulated the problem exactly. These are clearly clone accounts, but since IMDB *always* deletes torrent/phishing accounts, how do these people have access to users who have reported them? I realize reporting someone automatically adds them to your Ignored list; I was under the impression, though, that simultaneously the accountsame are deleted:thus, the continual stream of new auto-generated screen names.

[–] patty1 8 years ago

These are clearly clone accounts, but since IMDB *always* deletes torrent/phishing accounts, how do these people have access to users who have reported them?

The spammers don't have "access to users who have reported them," and I don't know why you would think that. Amazon deletes spammers' accounts eventually, but they have been very slow with these recent people. The current spammers have been using some of the same account names for a week or more. I'm hoping that the Amazon folks are getting a handle on it now that the long weekend is over, but they probably won't be fully staffed up again until next week.

I realize reporting someone automatically adds them to your Ignored list; I was under the impression, though, that simultaneously the accountsame are deleted:thus, the continual stream of new auto-generated screen names.

I don't know why you would think that the account is immediately deleted when you report it for abuse. The message you see from Amazon is, "Thanks for your report. The system administrators have been notified." In other words, it (quite rightly) takes human intervention to decide whether action is appropriate. Otherwise, anyone's account could be deleted simply because someone reported it.

[–] patty1 8 years ago

I'll repeat, I did not report these posts.

Uh, in your initial posting, you said:

I apparently had been put on a "banned" list by a spammer phishing for clicks to illegal downloads.

I report ALL such users. I mean, I report every one of them.

Are you confused between reporting spam posters and reporting individual posts by them? SHR's explanation to you makes a lot more sense than your conclusion of:

That strongly suggests that the download-peddlers/phishers/cloudscum have hijacked their way into IMDB and have access to users' Ignore Lists.

I've gotten "new posting" reports on Facebook groups, only to get an error message when I try to view the posting. In those situations, I conclude that the posting has been removed before I tried to view it, not that someone has hacked into my FB account to keep me from seeing it.