[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia sock puppet subscribing me to junkmail

Wed Apr 13 21:13:20 UTC 2005

Yes, a developer can check for all other users that share this IP
address (sockpuppets).  #mediawiki on freenode usually has a bunch of
them, and #wikipedia might also have some hanging around.

You should report them to the FTC/FCC (I think it's the FTC, but I'm not
sure).  How did they get your email? Did you email them back after they
[[Special:Emailuser]]'d you?

If you could trace them back to a user on wikipedia, then it looks like
you probably caught the actual guy rather than a proxy :D

Blog: http://frazzydee.ca

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Christiaan Briggs wrote:
> Recently I have had a deluge of junkmail, and I have a pretty good idea 
> who it is. One of emails (below), from LeadFactory.com, included the IP 
> address of the person who subscribed me.
> 
> I had a hunch, considering, one, a lot of it is right-wing U.S. and 
> Israeli email (of which related articles I've been editing lately) and, 
> two, it's the first junkmail I've ever received at this address. So I 
> plugged the address into Wikipedia and whatta ya know, a probable sock 
> puppet who has been especially abusive to me recently:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:
> Contributions&target=155.84.57.253
> 
> You might also like to check out some of the sock puppet's responses to 
> requests to stop vandalism and 3RR:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:155.84.57.253
> 
> I also did a geographic trace on the IP and they're from Houston Texas.
> 
> Can this IP address be permanently banned or something? Is there anyone 
> who can check the address against other usernames?
> 
> Christiaan
> 
>>     From:       reply at LeadFactory.com
>>     Subject:     Welcome to LeadFactory! (1113341886.13.28781)
>>     Date:     12 April 2005 10:38:06 pm BST
>>     To:       christiaan at last-straw.net
>>     Received-Spf:     none (No spf1 record for (phl13.note.com) ) 
>> client-ip=207.106.91.43; envelope-from=<lf_sub at phl13.note.com>;
>>     X-Default-Received-Spf:     pass (Last token {a} (res=PASS)) 
>> client-ip=207.106.91.43; envelope-from=<lf_sub at phl13.note.com>;
>>     Received:     from phl13.note.com (unverified [207.106.91.43]) 
>> by  serverlogistics.com (SurgeMail 2.2c9) with ESMTP id 1899996  for 
>> <christiaan at last-straw.net>; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 14:38:12 -0700 PDT
>>     Received:     (from lf_sub at localhost) by phl13.note.com
>> (8.11.6/8.11.6)  id j3CLc6q28834; Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:38:06 -0400
>>     Return-Path:     <lf_sub at phl13.note.com>
>>     Message-Id:     <200504122138.j3CLc6q28834 at phl13.note.com>
>>     X-Http-User-Agent:     Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows
>> NT  5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
>>     X-Remote-Host:    
>>     X-Remote-Address:     155.84.57.253
>>     X-Lb-Comment:     LF Subscription Welcome; complaints to 
>> abuse at LeadFactory.com
>>     X-Mailer:     robosub from LeadFactory.com (v. 1.02)
>>     X-Server:     High Performance Mail Server - http://surgemail.com
>>     X-Rcpt-To:     <christiaan at last-straw.net>
>>     X-Spamdetect-Info:     This message may be spam see 
>> http://www.smitespam.com for more information
>>     X-Spamdetect:     ****: 4.578000 Opt-in=0.7,Information on how to
>> work  at home (2)=0.1,Message talks about earning money=1.5,From: does
>> not  include a real name=0.3,SpamUrl=2.0
>>     X-Spamurl:     leadfactory.com
>>     X-Ip-Stats:     No info recorded yet
>>     X-External-Ip:     207.106.91.43
>>
>> This email is to notify you that a subscription request
>> has been received through our LeadFactory system, to the
>> email publication(s) listed below.
>>
>> Each publisher will acknowledge your subscription to their
>> list separately by email, with their own instructions for
>> cancelling future messages.
>>
>> You have NOT been subscribed to any list belonging to us
>> (LeadFactory) as a result of this subscription request, and
>> will thus receive NO future emails from us (LeadFactory).
>>
>> If someone else used LeadFactory to subscribe you to the
>> lists below without your permission, please accept our
>> apologies and forward a copy of this entire email to
>> abuse at LeadFactory.com to be unsubscribed.
>>
>> =====
>>
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>> SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
>>
>> Subscriber: christiaan at last-straw.net
>> Name: Christiaan Briggs
>> IP Address: 155.84.57.253
>> Hostname:
>> Date/Time: Tue Apr 12 21:38:06 GMT 2005
>>
>>
>> === Subscriptions powered by LeadFactory...
>>          http://LeadFactory.com/leads/?initsub
>>
>>    [LeadFactory opt-in email is sent by note.com LLC
>>    P.O. Box 234, Jenkintown, PA 19046-0234 (USA).
>>    Complaints go to abuse at LeadFactory.com or +1 (215) 576 6800.
>>    Please mention subscriber id # 1113341886.13.28781 .]
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> 
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