The comedian related websites listed in bio are all fake, scams. Not the official sites related to actual comedian.

Looks like you can add "RyanMoore" to the list.

Also, some you may not be aware that I had my FHO website hacked and my media files removed. Eric did not know how to get them back. I found an old version (list but no working links) at:
https://archive.org/search
I uploaded a few replacements but not all of them.

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Originally posted by DougD

Looks like you can add "RyanMoore" to the list.

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He sent me friend request...

Among other obvious red flags... the bigboss's return email has domain using  moneybaggyo.org - which is an email scam, phishing and advance-fee fraud scheme.

I think you can also add Alex Morgan (fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/ho...?id=67085) to the list, although it doesn't seem to have been active in the last couple weeks.
Not to be confused with the great female soccer player.

It’s annoying that a couple of the accounts have made posts about items in the Swap Shop section. The fake interest distorts the algorithm, because users of the site pay more attention to a post if it has replies.

There have been scammers in the past who have tried to get people who posted in the classified section to give bank details or use other schemes to steal money. I’m concerned that if the AI accounts continue to make headway in this forum they (or future algorithms trained by them) will eventually be used for even more scams, possibly more sophisticated.

One of the stranger posts I've seen recently is someone asking for Cloudflare WAF (Web Application Firewall) configurations for tunearch.org.

An organization should never reveal its Cloudflare WAF (Web Application Firewall) configurations to strangers/third parties. As it could lead to hacking/infiltration.

Tunearch.org runs on MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. And this is not fiddle related, but Wikipedia is a hot battle ground for info and control.

Some of my work in academia opened up my eyes to how dark and deep that war of information is... that's all I will say.

Now back to my bunker... haha

Add Jonathan Clark to the list.

Jonathan Clark also using email domain moneybaggyo.org

Does anyone know if the moderators ever look at the reports? I know that accounts are automatically locked if a post is reported, but I haven’t seen any signs that anything else happens. I’ve been wondering for years whether this section of the forum is just speaking into a void.

You can see who the moderators are uunder the "Forums" tab in the drop down menu. None of them have participated in the forum, or added a blog post, in many years. Perhaps they still read and act on reports, but if so its done quietly. The site owner has posted in recent years to try and solve problems, but I think this site is so small that it doesn't get much attention. I don't really know - just my suspicions.
I don't think any of the accounts mentioned here have been locked either, as far as I can tell.

Yesterday I had an inquiry on purchasing the Martin I have advertised in the classifieds. Williams 890 just joined FHO yesterday. Can the mods shine any light on the accounts legitimacy?

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Originally posted by DougD

You can see who the moderators are uunder the "Forums" tab in the drop down menu. None of them have participated in the forum, or added a blog post, in many years. Perhaps they still read and act on reports, but if so its done quietly. The site owner has posted in recent years to try and solve problems, but I think this site is so small that it doesn't get much attention. I don't really know - just my suspicions.
I don't think any of the accounts mentioned here have been locked either, as far as I can tell.

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When a report is sent, an account will be locked at least temporarily. Since reporting the latest AI post, if I attempt to go to the profile page, I get a message that the account is locked due to potential spamming. But other accounts that have been reported already seem to be viewable again, so maybe that lock expires if nothing is done. I've looked at the moderator list before and also noticed that they aren't around. One surfaced momentarily a few months back just to try to sell something and then faded back into obscurity. I have no idea if the others are even alive anymore. The site itself was an offshoot of the Banjo Hangout originally and I got the impression that the founder set it up for those who were interested but left it to the users to keep it alive. Money is collected when things sell through the classifieds that is intended to maintain the site, and that is theoretically keeping the site up, although I don't know if the rest of what's collected is being used to maintain the site.

It would be great if there could be a new moderator to keep an eye on things. Members can only report things but can't delete fake accounts or purge inactive accounts. There's also no oversight of the classifieds, which leaves a lot of room for dishonest ads or scams. I worry that, like Old Time, this site is in existential limbo. 
 

Edit: I just checked Morgan Todd's page, which had gone active again. Going back to a comment I reported it for spamming (again). After reporting, the account said it was locked again for potential spamming. That makes me think my hypothesis was correct--a temporary block that expires if it's not addressed. Going to the member homepage section you can see the new members listed. There are a few that have made accounts but have not posted anything. All look suspicious. 

Where are all these bots you're talking about? I don't see anything here except not very many posts from fiddlers, like usual. I've had a couple "friend" requests in a few months but I never answer them anyway. Is that what this is all about?

It does seem strange the moderater(s) aren't responsive here though.

Looks like all the suspicious accounts have been locked (except maybe one). Thank you to the moderators or site owner.

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Originally posted by Brian Wood

Where are all these bots you're talking about? I don't see anything here except not very many posts from fiddlers, like usual. I've had a couple "friend" requests in a few months but I never answer them anyway. Is that what this is all about?

It does seem strange the moderater(s) aren't responsive here though.

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You must have missed an awful lot. Just read this thread and the related one. There have been a lot of new fake accounts recently, most of them identified already. They've been using AI to respond to posts, just making generalizations based on a survey of old posts. The profiles often have links to scam sites or pictures stolen from real websites or social media. I think some of them are just vehicles to promote scams, but others are designed to infiltrate forums and attempt to sound convincing so that they can fool people into other things down the road or train other algorithms. Security here is very weak, so it's an easy target for model training. 

quote:

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Originally posted by DougD

Looks like all the suspicious accounts have been locked (except maybe one). Thank you to the moderators or site owner.

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I'm not sure the moderators locked the accounts. It may have just been that they were all locked again by being reported. 

I emailed Williams890 and asked for his cell number so that we could talk about the transaction. He gave me the number with the response was "Text only".

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Originally posted by Highlonesomef5

I emailed Williams890 and asked for his cell number so that we could talk about the transaction. He gave me the number with the response was "Text only".

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I trust you know what you're doing - I wouldn't do anything to make 'contact', myself .......

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

quote:

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Originally posted by Brian Wood

Where are all these bots you're talking about? I don't see anything here except not very many posts from fiddlers, like usual. I've had a couple "friend" requests in a few months but I never answer them anyway. Is that what this is all about?

It does seem strange the moderater(s) aren't responsive here though.

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You must have missed an awful lot. Just read this thread and the related one. There have been a lot of new fake accounts recently, most of them identified already. They've been using AI to respond to posts, just making generalizations based on a survey of old posts. The profiles often have links to scam sites or pictures stolen from real websites or social media. I think some of them are just vehicles to promote scams, but others are designed to infiltrate forums and attempt to sound convincing so that they can fool people into other things down the road or train other algorithms. Security here is very weak, so it's an easy target for model training. 

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Yes, I've missed it all. I haven't seen any of it. Must be topics I don't read anyway or something.

I had a Todd Morgan friend request as well and think a bot replied to my picture of the vintage atelier style wooden cabinet that was a free street find and that I just had to share here a long while ago :p I ignored both!

Has anyone been in touch with Eric Schlange recently? I’ve sent an email but haven’t gotten any response. I’m wondering if the lights are on but no one has been home for a while. Does anyone have confirmation (not an auto-generated reply) that the webmaster is still active?

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

Has anyone been in touch with Eric Schlange recently? I’ve sent an email but haven’t gotten any response. I’m wondering if the lights are on but no one has been home for a while. Does anyone have confirmation (not an auto-generated reply) that the webmaster is still active?

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The report of my death was an exaggeration.  Still here!

So there is a man behind the curtain!! Belated greetings, salutations, and thanks for keeping this train on the rails!