This post will not appear on friends pages, do not add me to your friends list.
This is my first bot post in some time, but since something major has changed, I figure it's worthy to make an update.

Livejournal Abuse has apparently stopped deleting reported bots
I have noticed a sharp increase in daily adds from bots, and several people have contacted me telling me about the number of bots that are adding them.
People are also telling me that when they report them, the bots disappear from their friends pages, but are NOT deleting.

I asked LJ directly, but they gave me the usual line of not being able to tell me specifics.
They also gave me the usual line that they're trying things to stop bots from signing up - the same thing they've been saying for 8 months, but the bots are only worse, so i'll believe it when i see it.
[b]They did not deny that they are no longer deleting them.[/b]

I was told one thing useful: if you'd like details on why bot you report aren't deleted: open a request and ask!
http://www.livejournal.com/support/submit.bml
It seems to be illogical, I thought the reason for the other way to report bots was because they didn't have time to respond personally about bot reports. Apparently now they do.

If anyone gets a specific response about why a bot you've reported has not been deleted, please share it here to help others.

---

In other news, isn't it weird that LJ support staff are not above snarky comments and name-calling?
You'd think they're be more mature, and put those things aside to better represent LJ. Must be their way of showing us they're just average people.
Remember to be civil in all communication with LJ staff - it's not their fault they're petty, or that the bot problem didn't go away when they tried to ignore it.
Unlike other websites, they have no problem with just closing your support request without a response, so be nice and you'll be more likely to get an answer.

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider
Do not link directly to this post, link to the tag. If you have been linked directly to this post, tell the person to fix their link.

---

If you have been added by random russians recently, you can find answers here.
Take the poll, then please read all the posts in this category.
If you still have questions, I will answer them.

Informing people to report them to LJ-Support is the only way to combat the bots.
Please spread the word about these bots, link your friends here and tell them to report them to LJ-Support - feel free to tell "nympholept sent me"

When a bot adds you, see if anyone else has commented on their entries and tell those people about the bots too.

Link here only: http://nympholept.livejournal.com/tag/russian+bots
Do not friend me because of the bots - bot posts will not appear on your friends page. This journal is not bot-centric, and the only reason these posts are here is because google was already sending people here before I added all these detailed posts.

---

Take the poll , I want to know how you found me. :)
As of Jan 11, 5718 people have come here, a total of 10552 times, but only 1163 people have taken the poll. :(

If I left a comment on your journal, just choose the first option.
Poll #1271573
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1529

Why are you here?

(Looks like the "have my babies" answer means you're from nin_news - thanks guys!)

Old poll: Poll #1250752
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 111

?

I've closed this poll on Oct 3rd when it reached 100 because i wanted to find out where people were coming from.

---

#11 Statistics
#10 Bot Identification Help
#09 Bot Information + comments + questions
#08 Reported list - submitted by you.
#07 List of other Deleted Bots.

Date posted: 2009-02-28
This is not a catch-all post for everything you have to say about the bots!

---

If you google "livejournal russian bots", what do you get? Answer: The same thing that over 6000 other people have seen.

I have been helping LJ users with the russian bots since before Livejournal would admit there was a bot problem, but Livejournal still will not apologise for the incorrect information they originally gave.
I have reported over Eleven Thousand russian friending bots to Livejournal. Does that make a difference to these people? No, they still give me bullshit cut-and-paste meaningless answers to anything I ask.

Today I reported over 2000 new bots and Livejournal Abuse told me they would no longer be accepting my mass reports.
Again, for emphasis: Livejournal has been informed of 2000+ bots, and refuse to do anything about them
This isn't that they don't have time - they outright refuse to import these 2258 suspected bots into their bot database.

Livejournal does NOT have users' safety and security in mind. Livejournal will stand idly by while these 2000 accounts add more friends and copy more entries.

(Oct 19th) English speaking bot detected: skydreams2008
There goes the neighbourhood.


(Dec 9) after months of no contact from bots, two add me within 10 minutes: rugapav, ovstcern

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friending livejournal bot random auto spider
Do not link directly to this post, link to the tag above. If you have been linked directly to this post, tell the person to fix their link.

---

Since I'm sure not everyone cares about these statistics, I'm putting them behind cuts. ( Daily Bot Counts )
October 17: grand total: 9047+. I reported another 2000+ today.

( Daily Page/Poll Views (Update: 2009-01-11 12:00 CDT) )
 totals : 	  5718	(10552)	[ 1163]
date		unique	(total)	[poll]

here is a list of 4117 people too lazy to take the poll - when you take the poll you will be removed from the list.
( Uninteresting browser counts (update jan 11) ) - Looks like firefox is winning.
people using win98, haha.
and 7 people using Avant: you guys rock!

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider
Do not link directly to this post, link to the tag above. If you have been linked directly to this post, tell the person to fix their link

---

If you think you found a bot you can search for proof here.
I've downloaded the contents of 3000 bot journals, and compiled a list of common content.

First, i have a list of common websites that the bots link to. ( Common urls )
Next, common images. A lot of these are apparently counters, but i'm including the full list. ( Common images )
Some of the alt text on the images is very distinctive. ( Common alt text on images )
I do not speak russian, I am sure there are probably some very common strings of text here. ( Common text strings )

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider
Do not link directly to this post, link to the tag above. If you have been linked directly to this post, tell the person to fix their link.

---

I've just split this post out from the bot-report post which has reached 109 comments.
You can leave questions/comments here.

I am not a representative of Livejournal Support. I'm just someone with fast fingers and some google skills who can copy and paste.
A lot of people are asking questions about the bots, I just want to make sure that everyone gets answers, because Livejournal Support don't believe in informing the public.

For any real Russians: Livejournal's offical translation of "suspended" is "заморожен" (frozen) (thanks jimmy_chaosmann!)
If there are any other confusing translations, please let me know and I will try to explain them.

click here report the bots to livejournal, because it actually works.
( sample of what to say to LJ support )

---

What I know:

• The bots friend people automatically from community member lists, and user friend lists. You may notice familiar names on the friends list of a bot.
• They have been around since at least April, I first noticed them in August - so did a lot of other people.
• A lot of them post the same content - if you take some of their post, and google it, you will find many others journals with identical content.
• Not all of them post the same stuff, there are many variations. I don't know if that means they're newer, or they're just assigned to a different group. Some are more random and very hard to identify - google still helps.
• They almost always use Cyrillic (Russian), I'm told it often doesn't make much sense (I don't speak Russian, so i don't know)
• Sometimes, they reply: don't let that fool you.
  It is either automatic, or it is the person controlling the bots. Lately, they have been accusing me of being a bot, because I post the same message telling people to report them to Livejournal.
• No-one knows what they are for.
  Livejournal is currently researching ways to automatically identify them, and block them from registering.
  Update: Livejournal staff can now automatically identity bots that are reported to them, but are not able to locate them unless they are reported.
• One theory is that they are saving all your entries, and when people re-friend them, they save all their friends-only entries. Pictures, email addresses, names, street addresses, phone numbers - some people post these things, and the bots want them. 5000 bots friending 100,000 journals = identity theft.
  There have been reported of recent Russian hackings. I do not know if these are related
• The Userpic replacement problem is NOT related
  Userpics are appearing differently because of a CDN cache problem, and is being worked on by LJ developers.
• There was also a bug where suspended users were adding friends - it was reported, and is now fixed

---

dear people who only use ban_set to "get rid of" the bots.
If you ban_set them, but didn't know you could report them until now, this message is not directed at you.
People who do not report bots to Livejournal are selfish and allow the bots to continue to... do whatever it is they do.
What you do is akin to seeing a burglar at your neighbours house, but just locking your own door instead of calling the police.
When you ban someone from your journal it only stops them from commenting, and removes them from your friend-of list.
You are still on their friends list. They can still see, save and repost your public entries.
And they do:
http://shopwritedoll.blogspot.com/2008/10/exceptional-house-plans.html
http://alldaydifficult.blogspot.com/2008/10/blues-lead-guitar-tabs.html
http://kingwhohear.blogspot.com/2008/10/confessore.html
http://upbrothercat.blogspot.com/2008/10/derriere-les-fagots-restaurant.html
(These are spam journals that have reposted people's entries about the bots!)
If anyone knows who owns those journals, please let them know. (google can't find them)

Reporting the bots to LJ-Support is the only way to get rid of them for sure.

---

If you have notifications turned on, you can see a list of people who have recently added you here: http://www.livejournal.com/inbox/?view=befriended
If you want to be able to use that page, but don't want emails, you can choose notifications, but disable being sent an email on the subscriptions page

( minor updates )

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider ( . )

---

You still have to report them to LJ-Support yourself, but if you give me the names I will add them to my post each day so other people can see the progress.

Before asking "is this a bot", please check here: bot identification post
I will gladly check out any suspect journals for you, but I don't have time to check them all.
Be on the look-out for pictures of "girls with cars", fluffy bunnies, smiley face crowds and Angelina Jolie Dolls.

---

jan 11th: wjukaza
jan 2nd: bnjukem, lachrajn, amecjav
dec 27th: anovkoc, zehvhv
dec 24th: iosiv_zhukov, arbnin
dec 15th: plskij, jachslan
dec 7th: rasilie, ratktvam, rugapav, ovstcern
dec 2nd: graflak, saravoip
nov 28th: hcbacith, ivrstje, ebdagus, envoy_salvage
nov 19th: lawrie_6lupher1, sasha_bogdanov, cjkywt152, jeadara
nov 15th: llvejournal
nov 12th: ptiknul, vhahtroeautosau, vandewouwauftqu, porfiriogarry, gewwalfib
nov 5th: mcluskie3mahn2, samijmodnyj, pwifwe, abramsuvulotomy, pinnaehrosbe, thinking_finger
oct 24th: vloneuhowwily0, heintzitemitran, cvazasrefofarre, plusninety
oct 19th: alisa69sex, patchescoors
oct 17: found and reported 2211 more. (grand total found: 9089!)
17 marissa_jacobs brinybergeron orlyhisko chiyin_pilip
15: cordeliesandifo billzisu jaclyn_mcallist stephan_lockard lisha_bezdel ramaprakashmack norri_gourley bunnypic maribelle_nou randie_kirady ynezboulais birmingham_clif (mista_1 mista_2 mista_3 mista_4 mista_5 mista_6 mista_7 mista_8 mista_9 mista_10 mista_11 mista_12 mista_13 mista_14 mista_15 mista_16 mista_17 mista_18 mista_19 mista_20 mista_21 mista_22 mista_23 mista_24)
14: eblancheg
13: jeffery_lawther isabell_oslund jamaha wallacestasyszy ivan_kochis bonnie_stinson cheslie_okarin
12: carolinesyal plusninety
11: bodybuilder2007 alanahgeary rose_eastland lindi_phair
oct 10: ron_mcmichael ricadempsey bibi_buckhoff pierrick_guarin jermainedierki zacharyfurgaso gusta_bouret emmaleevafaie
oct 9: found and reported 3691 more. (grand total found: 7218!)
oct 9: hermancleman tyronjeter sararychert parkstaghizadeh babbie_livshits rungroj_hawes lianescorziello sol_starzman roland_rusch cedric_ausley bakoury_schwarz weelinbielby fuf bibi_buckhoff stanfordlathum wilbertosmun steinar_kirkham corri_coles maudiemihm arlina_marcanto tinichattoe izabel_copeland steinar_kirkham corri_coles malorywhitworth gerrie_morino tahir_weiser arlee_coles technical_dudge christer_boylan kinna_corbett patrizia_schous ljilyana_loadbu viki_jamieson attilio_dommety franka_tunali jillian_netdev larichev lynneryde kassia_chai larichev arun_keane cedricausley normand_farquha milzie_wadden alanahgeary selmastratton breannechanpong andiglaszczak khalid_changes jacki_vandenkie rosaline_wilson neilworthington gwennethmacquis amaleepomposell gwenni_ascott vito_hews gini_kutschke anastasia_costa janine_blaylock abby_siegle jillian_netdev bart_homayoun derek_gulko gramevermette judieashbee gracindachesser kessley_walles lianescorziello karly_kellett longdist_nock rosallind65 willenne77 quagmiry ephraim_chanpon corinecobb michaeline_haro emilinevanscho noel08_yuhanna
oct 8: found and reported 442 more.
oct 7: priya_incze sangmaun_tyler gwenora_kellogg
oct 5: found and reported 841 more. Almost all others reported are deleted
oct 5: may_ribaldo beanamcmullin bennett_deugo
oct 4: sibel_galluzzi sasha_bogdanov kerrill_joly timekiler juanita_odwyer shenzhi_ndububa beppietapner mehdibostock amallecarli asifmoulton barlas_valiveti wallieromagnino dorothea_zelsma ermina_michalos markushuguin rimamacfarlane fiona_hager noreen_wandel
oct 3: jeanette_goetz chrissy_marconi
oct 2: reported 235 others - suspended october 5 (see deleted)
Oct 2: amabelle_bondur josephina_early ferdinande_deda judmccuaig priya_intemann salis_sutter stefan_tappende olivie_osterhou trenna_behnam farhad_maludzin jinann_robart tessie_russell brennan_hooks kelwin_stanton rea_stewartguth jake_dragnea vmcord_stanton caresa_danker seemaculham tessie_russell pierrick_guarin tzungapplegarth

Oct 1 (1776 others reported) - suspended oct 5.
Oct 1 (64 others reported) - suspended oct 5 (see list)
Oct 1: stephane_roddy, tybikitzmiller, bernita_weiss, farhan_louladak, margriet_troubo, natalina_ahlber
Sept 30: I reported 164 other bots. - suspended oct 5 (see list)
Sept 30th: antonikolton, billzisu, mariejeanne_dra, maynard_etemad, mario_milaknis, smita_atcheson, cristie_ircstan, johnniedaymond, dolorita_bozice, kanu_veale, reikowayling, gwenni_ascott, meriline_fenton, khamdybirks, jessalyn_cornar, jessalin_sabbag, carsten_seawell
Sept 29th: protons285
Sept 28th: alia_sabo, auguste_lewek, adi_ircstandard, bettina_parisie, bnrsealy, anissa_bethune (suspended Oct 2)
Sept 27: ailsun_moghe, surinder_budimi (suspended sept 30)
Sept 21: alvin_goldthorp, myriam_santi (suspended sept 25)
Sept 18: ioakie(suspended 18th)
Sept 16 jerrinetruelove, jonie_gramiak, tionghoe_poyner, and gennieheiliger, thanhtinhfastfe (suspended Sept 17th)
Sept 10: erminia_silvers, nang_huppert (suspended Sept 17th)
Aug 30 woeipeng_donela (suspended Sept 17th)
Aug 6: access_commons, daphine_ohmayer, esko_sasaki, brit_zunuzi (suspended Sept 17th) mabel_baskervil???

See all bot posts: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

---

Putting all these lists in the same post goes over the post limit.
So this post is just for deleted bots.

I should update this post.

there are currently 534 in this post

oct 2: reported 235, suspended october 5
( 235 more )

Oct 1 64 more, suspended october 5: ( 64 behind the cut )

Sept 30: 60(+104), suspended october 5: ( 164 behind the cut )


( 534 behind the cut )

Mostly for my reference, here are all my support requests:

( support request list )

In case anyone doubts my claims of reporting thousands of bots, here are all the dead bots I know of. 2000 per post, because 3000 per post is over the max character limit.
( 2001 (A-E) )

In case anyone doubts my claims of reporting thousands of bots, here are all the dead bots I know of. roughly 2000 per post, because 3000 per post is over the max character limit.
( 2141 (F-M) )

In case anyone doubts my claims of reporting thousands of bots, here are all the dead bots I know of. roughly 2000 per post, because 3000 per post is over the max character limit.
( 2549 (N-Z) )

Livejournal have finally admitted he russian friend adding bots are a problem, and have suspended all 14 that i have reported. (I forgot to report one so it has not been suspended, yet.)
More information: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

If these livejournal random russian auto friend adding bots add you, do make sure you file a report with LJ, because it actually works. And tell them nympholept sent you so they will take you seriously.

Follow up:

Update, here are some other summaries:
+(777) *bot names* UF [ru]
+(605) *bot names* UF, poss StD bot [ru]
+(605) *bot names* UF, poss StD bot [ru]
+(605) var UF [ru]
+(605) var UF [ru]
+(91) *bot names* UF/bot [ru]
+(605) var UF/bot
[g/unk] Unwanted friending! Please help!
+(605) *bot names* UF/bot
+(605) var UF/bot
+(188) var UF/bot (164 total)
+(188) q re: russian spambots
+(188) var StS (67)
+(92) var StS
+(605) nympholept re: reports
+(188) var StS
+(92) 94 more cyrillic bots
+(92) 263 cyrillic bots.
+(92) 484 more possible cyrillic bots
+(92) 147 more possible russian bots
+(92) 442 more possible russian bots
+(92) 2111 more russian bots.
+(91) More friending bots (2295 total)

This post is outdated. Livejournal are now suspending these bots.
More information: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

random russian thanhtinhfastfe just added me.
I seem to be pretty damn popular with them - this is the 8th.

a second random person found my journal through google because of them!

---

---

livejournal support have been setting my requests as private, and marking them "poss StD bot"
Now why on earth would they have a name for them, when they keep telling me they're not a problem?

More information: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

attn: bmoloney, cateris, veryprecisely
a new russian serial-friender erminia_silvers just added the 4 of us.

I'm opening a support request, i encourage you three to too - along with anyone else who has noticed these russian bots.

---

another bot, already! nang_huppert

This post is not current - Livejournal are now suspending these journals regularly
More information: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

---

If you are experiencing auto-adding russian bots, please open a support request about it.
LJ Support are denying that they are a problem - so the more they hear about it, the greater the chance that they will actually do something about it.

Take a look at the friends list of the bot that added you - you will notice several people that are either on your friends list, or who belong to a community you are in.
If you can, please contact those people and either tell them what's going on, or direct them to this post.

( my conversation with the ever-useless LJ support )

This post is outdated. Livejournal are now suspending these bots.
More information: Cyrillic russians serial adding friend friending livejournal bot random auto spider

---

Is anyone else noticing the auto-adding russian bots?

There are two of them who have friended me, and I've noticed another 2 that have added other people recently.
They definitely seem to be spidering, because they add several other people from your flist at the same time.

as you would expect, livejournal are doing jack shit about it, and deny that it is a problem.