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SERVER ERROR

I checked a spamvertized domain (freshly spammed today from host168.canaca.com).

It responded with this text:

SERVER ERROR

Trouble is, I saw that text in a text browser, that also transmitted the status code: 200, which means OK. That means in essense, there’s no server error. A(n internal) server error has status code 500. So, it’s just a ploy to throw off irate bloggers. That domain will later on serve up content.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 7:36 am and is filed under Referrer spam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “SERVER ERROR”

  1. Esrun Says:
    September 4th, 2006 at 9:23 am

    Good idea, similar to those who cloak their sites to show a ‘This webpage has been suspended message’ whenever someone clicks through to the site from anywhere other than a search engine(based on referer).

  2. Alden Bates Says:
    September 5th, 2006 at 1:34 am

    That trick fooled me… once. Then I remembered to check the source. :P

  3. Olliver Says:
    January 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Now that is almost unbelievable…. When I saw the hostname and learnt about the tactics, I thought for a moment:
    “Where have I seen that before…”

    That said, pulled some ancient spam logs from summer 2006 and bingo, it’s the same spammer. 18 months have passed since then without Canaca doing anything about it . Esrun is right on that, It’s an extremely sneaky spammer who does a lot of rewrite trickery to avoid being caught by “antis”. When I analysed his tactics back then, I was amazed about the level of details he had put into consideration for his trickery.

    But as of now that is of no concern to me any longer because meanwhile I run my own dedicated server and simply firewall all my “favourite ranges”. Result, a spam free happy life and more time for pleasant things :-)

    Cheers,
    Olliver

  4. Olliver Says:
    January 2nd, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Forgot about sumthin:
    Back in summer 2006, this guy had another server hosted by ThePlanet of Spam. Dunno whether it is still alive but back then the ip address was 70.87.208.34.

    Olliver

  5. admin Says:
    January 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    To Olliver:

    Umm, that WAS in 2006 - you found an old post.

  6. Olliver Says:
    January 2nd, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    Hm, now that’s really silly: I really overlooked that small detail you mentioned, maybe because I was moving within the referrer spam section and probably did not expect to be thrown that far back in time.

    Never mind and happy new year anyway,
    Olliver

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