Goal is to get indexed by search engines or LLMs and then show up as first phone number for "$airline customer support" or such. It's been going on for a while, I keep flagging them when I see them in my timezone. I thought it was Turkish.
The old accounts is amazing though. Either somebody really playing the long game or easy guessable passwords?
As an aside, I'd always assumed that you only got so many "flags" per minute or whatever, but I've had a half-dozen where my flag killed it dead (which makes it all rather fun), so maybe I was mistaken?
Not all HN users are "flag equal", if you consistently flag spam then sooner or later a mod will notice this (as many flags get reviewed) and you'll get upsized to "super flagger" - unlimited flagging power with one flag == death.
You then get more scrutiny, start "petty flagging" (flagging a fellow legit HN user out of spite because <insert no good reason>) and you'll be demoted to the rank and file.
If you email HN and ask they'll often happily tell you if you've been tweaked in some manner or another.
Goal is to get indexed by search engines or LLMs and then show up as first phone number for "$airline customer support" or such. It's been going on for a while, I keep flagging them when I see them in my timezone. I thought it was Turkish.
The old accounts is amazing though. Either somebody really playing the long game or easy guessable passwords?
I also flag these on sight.
And when I do, I mutter "mekka-lekka-high, mekka-heinie-ho" to myself.
As an aside, I'd always assumed that you only got so many "flags" per minute or whatever, but I've had a half-dozen where my flag killed it dead (which makes it all rather fun), so maybe I was mistaken?
Not all HN users are "flag equal", if you consistently flag spam then sooner or later a mod will notice this (as many flags get reviewed) and you'll get upsized to "super flagger" - unlimited flagging power with one flag == death.
You then get more scrutiny, start "petty flagging" (flagging a fellow legit HN user out of spite because <insert no good reason>) and you'll be demoted to the rank and file.
If you email HN and ask they'll often happily tell you if you've been tweaked in some manner or another.
Interesting, thanks.
I was wondering the same