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Heed the callup

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Feb. 25th, 2008 | 0:30
GPS: 99204
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As a heads up:

I would assume any AIM screen name with the name "salmon" in it to be a bot--so far I know "favoredsalmon," and "diningsalmon," and "hygenicsalmon"* to be bots, along with another. Simply be wary of any screen names with "*salmon."

Specifically, it's a relay bot a-la the "GreatHatsby" bot** ("I say old bean, have you seen my hat?") a few years back--it links two parties together on AIM, relaying their messages through the screenname so that the two parties don't actually know the screen name of the other. It finds screen names by crawling the profiles of recently-updated LiveJournals.


--
* Screen name added 2008-25-2 14:20 PST, after referencing chat logs on another personal computer.
** Link added for ease-of-reference 14:25

Edit [2008-20-6]: I've gotten to many to keep posting names. It's just plain annoying.
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Comments {20}

Sivart Thirteen

(no subject)

from: [info]sivart13
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 9:21 (UTC)

thanks for this, a google search for FavoredSalmon turns up this entry and probably saved me a couple seconds of internet bewilderment.

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Sev

(no subject)

from: [info]sevataru
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 15:28 (UTC)

yup '-' haha

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 22:34 (UTC)

It confused me as well. I couldn't find anything on it, myself, but it acted just like the old "thegreathatsby" bot and the variations thereof, from a few years back. I'm certain it's a new bot name, but the fuction -- ie, sewing chaos -- has not changed.

I'm glad it did help make it at least somewhat less-confusing.

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Miyabi

(no subject)

from: [info]miyabisan
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 10:42 (UTC)

Indeed, thanks for the heads up :)

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 22:31 (UTC)

Of course! :)

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Lou*-ser.

(no subject)

from: [info]lenkocambria
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 17:11 (UTC)

I agree with the other person who commented. I just got an IM from the same screen name, Googled it and found it here. I'm going to repost on my own. Thanks for the heads up haha.

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: Feb. 25th, 2008 22:31 (UTC)

Glad to help!

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Odious Otter

(no subject)

from: [info]odious
date: Feb. 27th, 2008 19:40 (UTC)

I'm closing accounts that get botted. ICQ has fallen victim to spam in the authorization request dialog which can't be blocked as the user hasn't ever been on my list. I will no longer be using ICQ. AIM owns them anyway.

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stainedcyrano

(no subject)

from: [info]stainedcyrano
date: Mar. 1st, 2008 1:52 (UTC)

Just met an AgedSalmon. How weird... Got me freaked out.

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Matt

(no subject)

from: [info]vaecrius
date: May. 1st, 2008 21:53 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up. Found this post after googling {salmon aim}... don't mind if I link this?

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 1st, 2008 21:55 (UTC)

Go ahead! That's why I posted it.

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*~*Katherine*~*

(no subject)

from: [info]magnoliafly
date: May. 7th, 2008 14:05 (UTC)

Ugh this is so annoying. I've been messaged by numerous Salmon AIM names. Will probably post and link about this in my journal. Thanks!

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 7th, 2008 20:52 (UTC)

Of course! Glad to help!

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Tanasha Elizabeth

(no subject)

from: [info]untasted
date: May. 7th, 2008 15:32 (UTC)

Did you ever find any other information when it comes to this topic? I get the messages often, whenever I update my LiveJournal community, and there seems to be a very STRONG link between this Salmon bot and LiveJournal. Do you know much about that link? I've gotten tons of salmon messages, including those and also "westwardsalmon" and "trojansalmon." I just got another a couple seconds ago, but I didn't pay attention to the name. I've started just blocking each one that I get, but a new one always comes up when I update my community. Hmpfh.

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: May. 7th, 2008 20:51 (UTC)

I don't specifically know how it does it, but there is some bot that crawls LJ and searches for recently-updated journals — and then messages a party as one of the “salmon” bots.

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*~*Katherine*~*

(no subject)

from: [info]magnoliafly
date: May. 7th, 2008 20:55 (UTC)

There is an entire LJ Community called [info]themissinghat where people discuss the phenomenon. They have various links to FAQs on the subject in their userinfo.

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Tanasha Elizabeth

(no subject)

from: [info]untasted
date: May. 7th, 2008 20:55 (UTC)

Yeah, I ended up finding that. It's rather intriguing. (:

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Dermot Mac Flannchaidh

(no subject)

from: [info]dermotmacflann
date: Jun. 22nd, 2008 5:38 (UTC)

A similar discussion about the same issue has been going on here. I left this comment there as well:

I googled and found this. Something similar just happened to me. Someone on AIM named FlightySalmon claiming to be using Trillian contacted me saying that I had contacted him, and that my name was FangedSalmon. This other person thinks I might be a bot. I don't know what to think about him. I'm using Pidgin.

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Keb

(no subject)

from: [info]klitaka
date: Jun. 22nd, 2008 5:50 (UTC)

I've been contacted by so many of these in the last couple weeks. It's really annoying. fortunately, most people don't reply (at least not quickly), and I've been blocking the *salmon. I need to figure out a better solution than just blocking them as they com. Pre-emptive blocking of some kind, probably.

For note, I'm using OSX's equivalent of Pidgin, AdiumX (which is also based on Libpurple).

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kashmoolah

(no subject)

from: [info]kashmoolah
date: Jul. 17th, 2008 22:23 (UTC)

This is helpful. I was IMed last night by FavoredSalmon last night and couldn't figure out who it was for the life of me. This is how the conversation went:
FS: IT'S COMCASTIC!
Me: Auto-reply: no man is pudding.
Me: What is?
FS: what is what?
Me: Who is this?
FS: who are you
Me: This is hilarious.
FS: uhh okay
you're gassy lolz
bye

What is the deal with this? It's just people on LJ who don't want to use their real screenname?

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