Sunday, June 16, 2013

Eye for an eye, abuse for abuse

As you will soon discover, the comment system at Lords of Pain is heavily flawed. Bans are easy to circumvent. Infinite voting. Spam and sockpuppets. But the biggest flaw is that a sub-standard columnist with a delicate ego wields too much power. I am speaking of Hustle, aka Single H, aka Hemorrhoid (because he's always on my ass, is really irritating, and really stinks up the joint).

I made left a comment regarding one of his columns. Basically, all I said was that fantasy booking WrestleMania 30 had been done to death in the comment sections, and didn't live up to front page column standards.

Since Hemorrhoid's ego is so fragile, he deleted the comment. I reposted, and asked why he deleted the original comment. THAT comment got deleted as well.

So then I posted other comments, well within the terms of service, calling him out for deleting criticism of his columns. Not only was that comment deleted, but the spiteful, petty Hemorrhoid deleted a few dozen non-related comments in retaliation.

Once other users started noticing my comments disappearing, Hemorrhoid banned me from commenting altogether. Furthermore, any user who tried to mention my ban or otherwise stand up for me was likewise banned. And, just to make sure his cowardice would stay a secret, Hemorrhoid put my very name on the banned word list. Go ahead and try to post a comment containing the text string “loveshaft”and you'll see the comment get instantly deleted.

This isn't about me. This is about the lack of integrity. It's about a little man who is given too much power. It's about censorship, and stifling the free exchange of ideas.

If you want better than having a Hemorrhoid ready to ban you for not kissing his ass (and we all deserve better than that), you have two options. First, you can always move on to a much superior wrestling news website. Might I recommend www.wrestlinginc.com. It breaks news much more quickly than Lords of Pain, has a comment system that isn't heavily flawed, and you don't have to worry about getting banned by a thin-skinned pansy. But, if you like Lords of Pain and wish to stay, below you will find some fun and productive ways to exploit the flawed comment system LoP currently uses (its biggest flaw being the fact that Hemorrhoid has too much power).

These tactics are already in use by other users, so everyone might as well get them some. I'm not a computer geek...I'm a science geek. So, if I could figure this shit out, so could countless computer geeks.

SET UP MULTIPLE INTENSEDEBATE ACCOUNTS AHEAD OF TIME

If you are going to engage in behavior that might get you banned, you should have a few accounts set up to do your dirty work so your primary account doesn't get banned. These extra accounts are routinely referred to as “sockpuppets”. You can have all sorts of fun with them. For instance:

You can troll like a boss. You can post links to free wrestling feeds or advertise your own project (just be sure to post the address in such a way that it will get around the auto-delete feature, e.g., “It's lordsofdisdain point blogspot point com”). You can tell offensive jokes. More on sockpuppets later.

LEARN TO USE MULTIPLE IP ADDRESSES

Since your e-mail address and IP address are visible to the admins when you leave a comment, you should always do your trolling from an IP address different than the one you use for your primary account. Most devices in your home that are hooked to the internet, including those connected by wifi, will be using the same IP address. If you commit an offense that will get you banned, you don't want it to be your primary IP.

Options include using a computer at a friend's or family members, or at work. Or, you can ask your neighbor if you can have his wifi password in case your internet ever goes out. Connect to it, and you have a new IP address.

Use your phone's 3G or 4G network to post trolling. If its IP gets banned, no problem. Read on.

LEARN TO SWITCH YOUR IP ADDRESS

There are several phone apps which give you the ability to switch your IP address. You have to be connected to your phone's 3G or 4G network...such programs won't work over wifi. You might be able to change your IP address through your internet provider, but that would be up to you to discover how. It's easier to go into your phone's app store and search for “IP switcher” or “IP changer”. A simple tap and you have a brand new IP address. Take up your trolling and spamming where you left off. Use a new sockpuppet account if you need to.

SWITCHING IP ADDRESSES IS THE KEY TO INFINITE VOTING

With such an app on your phone, you can vote on any comment as many times as you'd like. Use a browser on your phone that is not signed into your IntenseDebate account. Go to the page with the comments you want to vote on while using your phone. You can vote without an account, but only one vote per IP address. So vote whatever comments up or down that you'd like, then open your ip changer app. Do whatever you need to do to change your ip with it. Then, go back to your browser and reload it. You will be able to vote again. As many times as you feel like. Think of the fun you can have with it.

Go to any column by Hustle and start thumbing down anyone who comments on it. When someone you don't like makes several comments on the same page, use this trick to give him an obscene amount of thumbs down. You can make an argument go your way be repeatedly thumbing up all your own comments while thumbing down anyone who disagrees. Since the sheep are easily lead, give a post of yours a handful of thumbs up right after you post it...this will make sure the herd more likely to think the comment is clever and likewise thumb it up.

SOCKPUPPETS FOR FUN AND POFIT...WELL, JUST FUN

Try this: When a page is getting a lot of comment traffic (big news, live PPV results), leave a comment that is either stupid or annoying or both...something likely to get several of the jackasses and sheep writing long, boring comments in return. Then, about 3-4 minutes after posting your comment, delete it. Meanwhile, several people will continue to write replies that will be deleted as soon as they submit them, thereby wasting their time.

Use your primary profile to initiate new threads. This makes sure your name and avatar are visible and seen frequently. Further this by using sockpuppets to reply to these threads. Each time you do, your comment will be bumped to the top of the list for most people, as the default setting is sort by recent activity. Your sockpuppet can troll people who disagree with you, or set you up for some good jokes, insults, or comebacks.

Use a sockpuppet to make a comment that is sure to get a lot of thumbs up but not likely to get replies (“Derp! Raw isn't as good since CM Punk left”). Let the thumbs pour in. Add a bunch of your own if you want. Then, go in and edit the comment to something contrary or bizarre or even sinister. Imagine comment with a bunch of thumbs up stating things like “Cena is better than Punk in the ring AND on the mic”, or “Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler should start dating”, or “Chis Benoit's best match was his last one: against his son.” Or, do the opposite. Make comments sure to get voted down, then edit your comment to something the sheep routinely bleat.

CHANGING NAMES AND DELETING ACCOUNTS

If you want to go on a spamming session and get your website or thoughts out there, do it from a single sockpuppet account. Blast it all over the place. On as many page as you can, cut and paste whatever you want people to see. Then delete that IntenseDebate account. It will be harder for the admins to trail down all the comments as there is no longer a profile page for them to refer to.

You can also change your name and get past the banned word list. Some words in an account will automatically trigger an autodelete and not let your comment get posted (for instance, if you have “loveshaft” in your account name, any comments will be automatically deleted). Use a sockpuppet with an acceptable name to post several times, then change the name on the IntenseDebate account to anything you'd like. Something vulgar, maybe? Or start leaving a lot of posts during a PPV, then change your name to the URL of a place to stream it.

The last tip works best if you have an IntenseDebate account that you've already used to post on Lords of Pain hundreds of times. If you decide that you can't or don't want to use the account anymore, change the name to something nefarious but nothing too extreme...it can't be anything that would get your account deleted by IntenseDebate. The comments can be deleted, but the name will stay visible if there are replies to it. The new name you pick will be seen hundreds of times throughout Lords of Pain and be nearly impossible to eradicate.

You know...I just happen to have an IntenseDebate account with several hundred posts on Lords of Pain...